![\"Dopaminergic](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/F0213547-Dopaminergic_neuron,_illustration.jpg\"\/)
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A computer illustration of dopaminergic neuron, specialized brain cells that synthesize and release the neurotransmitter dopamine. Dopamine is a key factor of love at first sight, as it activates the brain’s reward system, creating intense feelings of pleasure and euphoria.<\/p>\n
KATERYNA KON, SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY<\/p>\n
Why are we able to fall so fast?<\/p>\n
The ability to experience love at first sight rests on a cognitive skill you might not even realize you have: Humans are incredibly good at quickly assessing other people. \u201cIn\u00a0less than seven seconds<\/a>, we can form impressions that are actually fairly accurate,\u201d says\u00a0Wendi Gardner<\/a>, a social psychologist at Northwestern University.<\/p>\n By that, she means \u201cthey’re accurate in terms of they’re likely to be widely shared by other members of our culture.\u201d\u00a0The human brain can\u2019t really instantly know someone\u2019s character\u2014that takes time. But our brains\u00a0can rapidly process physical cues<\/a>\u00a0in others to form an impression that, right or wrong, is shared by the masses and could make us fall fast, especially if someone is attractive.<\/p>\n Our brains\u00a0interpret nonverbal signals like\u00a0symmetry<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0smiling<\/a>\u00a0to form a positive impression of a person. We may not be conscious of it, but our brain is taking it all in and doing quick calculations to determine attractiveness. \u201cWe don’t even need to hear what they’re saying, we just need to see the way they’re behaving, signals about their face, physical attractiveness, the way they dress, and their nonverbal signals like eye contact and smiling,\u201d Gardner says.<\/p>\n In short, \u201cwe are total suckers for physical attraction,\u201d she says.\u00a0\u201cPeople talk about \u2018Oh, I don’t pay attention to anyone’s appearance,\u2019\u201d Gardner says. \u201cYou can think that all you want, and I promise that you are wrong\u2026there is no human on Earth who is a visual perceiver who isn’t noticing these things.\u201d<\/p>\n But instant love isn\u2019t just for the most physically attractive among us\u2014other types of connection can be foundational for relationships.\u00a0It\u2019s a\u00a0psychological\u00a0idea called\u00a0I-sharing,<\/a>\u00a0but it\u2019s more commonly understood as the moment when strangers \u201cclick.\u201d\u00a0First introduced two decades ago<\/a>,\u00a0I-sharing is fleeting belief that you are experiencing the same subjective reality as another person in the moment. This psychological phenomenon builds an instant connection by temporarily erasing feelings of\u00a0existential loneliness<\/a>, making us feel understood and increasing affection and trust. Research in the\u00a0Journal of Social and Personal Relationships shows that it does, and that these shared moments are\u00a0associated with greater romantic satisfaction.<\/a><\/p>\n Gardner also explains it through this example: \u201cIf you’ve ever been to a coffee shop, and something funny happens, whether it’s maybe what someone’s wearing, or the music, or the way someone laughs, or something that is just charming and endearing,\u201d she says. \u201cAnd you look up with a little smile, and you see someone else across the coffee shop also is looking up with a smile, and then your eyes meet. That’s enough.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A computer illustration of dopaminergic neuron, specialized brain cells that synthesize and release the neurotransmitter dopamine. Dopamine is…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":278705,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[156480,156483,156485,156484,134,156486,156479,156482,156487,111,139,69,5526,156481],"class_list":["post-278704","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-best-definition-of-love","tag-deep-affection","tag-fall-in-love","tag-falling-in-love","tag-health","tag-love-at-first","tag-love-at-first-sight-meaning","tag-love-romance","tag-love-science","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-valentines-day","tag-what-is-love-in-a-relationship"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/278704","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=278704"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/278704\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/278705"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=278704"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=278704"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=278704"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}