Why Love is Associated with the Heart

The concept of love being associated with the heart goes way back to the Ancient Greeks. Philosophers of Ancient Greece believed that our emotions were linked to the heart. Famous figures of that time like Aristotle and Plato argued that the heart was the domain of emotions and human thought processes. The association between love and the heart appeared in a lot of ancient Greek and Roman poetry too.

Have you ever wondered why when a couple weds, the wedding ring always goes on the left fourth finger?
Well, this is because, in Ancient Rome, it was believed that there was a vein extending from the fourth finger on the left hand to the heart. This idea was called vena amoris. Of course, now we know that this is incorrect knowledge of human anatomy but the tradition of putting the wedding ring on this specific finger is still upheld throughout the centuries to today.

Scientifically speaking, the emotion of love occurs in the amygdala (which is an important function of the brain responsible for the regulation of our emotions and tying emotional meaning to our memories). Even though love does not register in the heart, the heart and the brain have a strong connection to each other. The heart will sometimes beat faster and harder when you are excited to see someone. When you feel a fluttering sensation in your heart when you see someone you like romantically or even love, or when you feel a “deep pain” in the heart when you get it broken by a lover, you think these feelings tell you you’re in love and you feel like they are occurring in your heart. But that’s just the rapid and unexpected change in your heart rate in response to these situations.

So even though we know the science behind where you feel love, why do we still associate love with the heart? Well, like a lot of ideas and traditions set in the past, for example, the wedding ring idea of the ancient Romans or throwing coins in a fountain or making wishes before blowing out birthday candles, we find it hard to let go of. We still hear people make references to the heart when they express their love for someone or something. We hear it in songs and see it in poetry too. Once an idea is set and is prevalent, it just sticks.