HAVE YOU EVER WONDERED ...if love at first sight really exists?

There’s been little scientific investigation into whether love at first sight (LAFS) really exists — until now.

Researchers from the University of Groningen in the Netherlands used a laboratory study, an online study and three speed-dating events to try to find out.

They worked with about 400 participants, mostly Dutch and German students, who reported about 500 encounters. They asked the participants to reveal whether they'd had the LAFS experience, then to note how physically attractive they found the people they met.

The researchers also asked the participants how they felt about intimacy, physical attraction, commitment and passion. The tests showed 32 of the participants experienced LAFS 49 times (which means most didn’t). Not too surprisingly, LAFS did seem to go hand in hand with considering a partner physically attractive.

The researchers say many people attach an LAFS label to their relationship after the fact, noting that it could also be a memory disturbance “construed by couples to enhance their relationship”.

So, maybe they considered their partner attractive straight away and definitely wanted to get to know them. A few years later it becomes he/ she “was the one for me”.

Though this flies in the face of romantic novels and films, most scientists and relationship experts are likely to agree with the study's results.