The brain in love – a lecture by Helen Fisher

Clip One
Clip Two
Clip Three
Clip Four
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Clip One

A. Pre-viewing:

	Before watching the video clip, go through the following notes on vocabulary found in the clip and familiarize yourself with their meanings.
	1.	Maya civilization – the historical pre-Columbian Maya culture, history and archaeology
	2.	inscription – a marking, such as the wording on a coin, medal, monument, or seal
	3.	equinox – either of the two times during a year when the sun crosses the celestial equator and when the length of day and night are approximately equal
	4.	anthropologist – a scientist who studies the origin, the behavior, and the physical, social, and cultural development of humans
	5.	elation –joyfulness or exaltation of spirit, as from success, pleasure, or relief; high spirits
	6.	anonymous - having an unknown or unacknowledged name

B. Comprehension Questions:

Watch clip 1 and answer the following questions.

Click here to watch the video

Video ©TED.com

1.	How many people did the scientists put through an MRI brain scanner?
		37	Correct
		17	Incorrect
		15	Incorrect
		10	Incorrect

2.	“Mayan inscriptions proclaim that he (the King) was deeply in love with his wife.” Proclaim =
		suggest	Incorrect
		describe	Incorrect
		announce	Correct
		specify	Incorrect

3.	What did the Mayan king Jasaw Chan K’awiil do for his wife?
		built a temple for her	Correct
		bathed in her temple	Incorrect
		visited her temple every spring and autumn	Incorrect

4.	“the sun rises behind his temple, and perfectly _________ her temple with his shadow.” Complete the sentence with a word below.
		baths	Incorrect
		bathed	Incorrect
		bathe	Incorrect
		bathes	Correct

5.	“Around the world people love. They sing for love, they dance for love, they compose poems and stories about love. They tell myths and legends about love. They pine for love, they live for love, they kill for love, and they die for love.” Pine for =
		look for	Incorrect
		long for	Correct
		find	Incorrect
		stand for	Incorrect

6.	Anthropologists have found a society that did not have evidence of romantic love.
		True	Incorrect
		False	Correct

7.	In one study of college students, almost 95 percent of them were rejected by people they really loved and dumped people who really loved them.
		True	Correct
		False	Incorrect

8.	The poem Fisher read during the lecture was written by herself.
		True	Incorrect
		False	Correct

Clip Two

A. Pre-viewing:

Match the following entries with their definitions.

B. Comprehension:

Watch clip 2 and answer the following questions.

Click here to watch the video

Video ©TED.com

1.	ApEn cells make dopamine and spray it to many brain regions.
		True	Correct
		False	Incorrect

2.	Dopamine is a natural stimulant.
		True	Correct
		False	Incorrect

3.	Which of the followings is a part of the brain’s award system?
		the ventral tegmental area	Correct
		ApEn Cells	Incorrect

4.	What is VTA associated with? ( you may select more than 1 item)
		wanting	Correct
		hunger	Incorrect
		focus	Correct
		craving	Correct
		motivation	Correct
		feeling	Incorrect

5.	Fisher describes romantic love as ….
		a possession	Incorrect
		a cocaine high	Incorrect
		an obsession	Correct
		an insanity	Incorrect

6.	Activity can be detected in the VTA only when we fall in love, not when we fall out of love.
		True	Incorrect
		False	Correct

7.	The core of the nucleus accumbens in our brain becomes active when we are measuring our gains and losses.
		True	Correct
		False	Incorrect

8.	How does the brain circuit for reward help us in life?
		It helps us win the life’s greatest prize	Incorrect
		It helps us find our mating partner	Correct
		It gives us the courage to fall in love	Incorrect
		It gives us the courage to take risks	Incorrect

9.	“When you've been rejected in love, not only are you engulfed with feelings of romantic love, but you're feeling deep attachment to this individual.” Engulfed with=
		defeated by	Incorrect
		engaged in	Incorrect
		overwhelmed by	Correct
		attached to	Incorrect

10.	“Last but not least, we found activity in a brain region associated with deep attachment to another individual. No wonder people suffer around the world and we have so many crimes of passion.” Last but not least =
		last in sequence, but most important	Incorrect
		last in sequence, but not less important than the previous ones	Correct

Clip Three

A. Pre-viewing

Familiarize yourself with the meaning of the following entries.

	Before watching the video clip, go through the following notes on vocabulary found in the clip and familiarize yourself with their meanings.
	1.	homeostatic - the ability or tendency of an organism or cell to maintain internal equilibrium by adjusting its physiological processes
	2.	copulate - engage in sexual intercourse
	3.	scruffy - shabby; untidy
	4.	ethnologist – a scientist who studies animal behavior, especially as it occurs in a natural environment

B. Comprehension

Watch clip 3 and answer the following questions.

Click here to watch the video

Video ©TED.com

1.	“So, what have I learned from this experiment that I would like to tell the world? Foremost, I have come to think that romantic love is a drive, a basic mating drive.” Foremost =
		before dealing with the most important one	Incorrect
		first to be dealt with and most important	Correct

2.	Fisher thinks that romantic love is a sex drive.
		True	Incorrect
		False	Correct

3.	Romantic love enables us to focus on our mating energy on just one individual at a time.
		True	Correct
		False	Incorrect

4.	Plato said, "The god of love lives in a state of need. It is a need. It is an urge. It is a homeostatic imbalance. Like hunger and thirst, it's almost impossible to stamp out." Stamp out =
		end or extinguish by forceful means	Correct
		imprint or impress with a mark by forceful means	Incorrect

5.	In this clip, Fisher describes romantic love as … (select 2 answers)
		a stamp	Incorrect
		a drive	Correct
		an addiction	Correct
		a risk	Incorrect

6.	According to Fisher, what are three main characteristics of addiction?
		distortion of reality	Incorrect
		tolerance	Correct
		willingness to take risks	Incorrect
		withdrawal	Correct
		relapse	Correct
		understanding	Incorrect

7.	Fisher has once pulled her car aside to cry because a song on the car radio reminded her of her ex-boyfriend.
		True	Incorrect
		False	Correct

8.	Fisher believes that only humans ‘love’.
		True	Incorrect
		False	Correct

9.	Knowledge of love has not spoiled love for Fisher.
		True	Correct
		False	Incorrect

Clip Four

A. Pre-viewing:

Match the following entries with their definitions.

B. Comprehension:

Watch clip 4 and answer the following questions.

Click here to watch the video

Video ©TED.com

1.	Fisher started the dating website Match.com three years ago.
		True	Incorrect
		False	Correct

2.	( you may select more than 1 item) According to Fisher, we tend to fall in love with somebody who has the same
		socioeconomic background	Correct
		personality	Incorrect
		religious value	Correct
		general level of good looks	Correct
		general level of intelligence	Correct
		number of siblings	Incorrect
		cultural background	Incorrect
		physical strength	Incorrect

3.	Fisher thinks that biology and brain mechanisms can explain why one person can fall in love with one particular person but not with another.
		True	Correct
		False	Incorrect

4.	Fisher has already found the kind of brain mechanisms that pull us to one person rather than another.
		True	Incorrect
		False	Correct

5.	Women get intimacy differently than men do.
		True	Correct
		False	Incorrect

6.	Women get intimacy from face to face talking, which comes from taking care of children.
		True	Correct
		False	Incorrect