Elusive symptoms of falling in love

IT is a familiar feeling that has inspired thousands of works by generations of writers, poets and musicians.

But a study has found that falling in love may not be the dramatic shock to the system it was once thought to be.

Researchers at Stirling University say it is easier to spot when other people are in love than it is to realise you have fallen for someone yourself.

The findings from an ongoing international study were revealed in a talk on the ‘science of love’ in Stirling yesterday by academic Dr Carrie Jenkins, based in Canada.

She said: ‘When people are talking about others they often talk about things you can visually see, like “There’s something about their face or their eyes”, “They have a glow” or “You can just see it in their eyes”.

‘Participants talking about knowing when someone else is in love also talk about them being smiley or talking about the person they are in love with all the time.

‘That does not really come up at all when study participants are talking about themselves. People might notice another person talking about someone all the time but they might not notice themselves doing that.’

She added: ‘Might it actually be easier to say when someone else is in love, than to answer the same question about oneself? This would be a surprising reversal of the usual assumption.’