When we think of the “in love” feeling we think of one of the most natural things humans can experience over the course of a lifetime. If we were to describe the individual symptoms to those who have sadly never experienced it, it might prompt them to say, “check please…and skip dessert!” Yet for some odd reason the combination of all these crazy emotions together feels so overwhelmingly good, that it produces a feeling so intense we live our lives trying to achieve this high. So if we were to recreate each and every one of these emotions through a series of experiments could two people actually fall in love?

There are documented experiments that explain this phenomenon. New York psychologist Arthur Arun has been studying the mechanics behind the love feeling, and he wrote about an experiment he conducted where he took a series of strangers from the street and had them couple up to talk and share intimate details about their pasts. This carried on for over an hour. He then had them stare into each other’s eyes for 4 minutes without saying a thing. Afterwards the couples admitted to feeling deeply attracted towards their opposite counterpart, and two couples reportedly even married. Another experiment states that if people experience fear on the first date they misinterpret that feeling as love. People who share the same levels of thrills and excitement seem to be more compatible.

The imitation of the chemical reaction that happens in our bodies during a love connection is not just a thing of today. It was understood and emulated going back as far as ancient Rome where the Italian women would place in their eyes a few drops of juice from the plant belladonna or “fair lady”, in order to expand their pupils. Our pupils dilate fully when we see something that is of interest or when we become aroused.

The folks at NBC recently aired a show titled The Science of Love where they invited an eligible bachelor to date two separate women. The first girl was chosen by him based on first encounter attraction. The second was chosen by experts through a series of tests conducted to assess both participants’ biological and psychological makeup as well as what they found physically appealing.

During the first segment of the show the bachelor goes out with the “traditional” girl on a typical date of dinner, basic first date conversation, ending the night with some good old bumpin’ and grindin’ on the dance floor. The date with the “experiment girl” was uncommon, it was a series of exercises designed to recreate certain responses on the brain that trigger the in love feeling. There was a brisk walk on a hilly beach to accelerate the heart rate, a jump on a bungee cord where the two were strapped together and forced to hold intimately while experiencing the rush of the jump simultaneously to create anxiety, and an evening beach date where the two engaged in an intimate conversation about their pasts by a bond fire. At the end of their talk they were asked to stare into each other’s eyes for 5 minutes without saying a word to one another.

After the two separate dates the bachelor was asked to pick one of the women. He chose the experiment woman. She was in turn given the option to walk away and try her own fait on an upcoming show with a series of regular men and one “experiment man” chosen by the show’s team of professionals, yet she opted to pass on that and give the current bachelor a try. The strong chemistry between the two was undeniable. Now was this a product of the exercises that they had to endure on their date and were their brains tricked into feeling like they were falling in love?

We’ll have to follow up with our NBC friends to see how the happily chemically charged duo made out in the end, but in the meantime if you are looking for some first date ideas don’t pass up a chance to fall in love. Take your love interest to the nearest amusement park and scare the living daylights out of them. Who knows, they might love you for it in the end.