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For centuries poets and songwriters have tried to describe the pain of a broken heart.
However, it has taken scientists to prove that the agony of unrequited love is more than a simple emotional response.
Experiments show that being dumped by a lover activates brain regions more usually associated with processing physical pain, such as the searing sensation of being burnt. In other words, a broken heart really does hurt.
The finding could help explain why being given the heave-ho can be so painful for so long.
The intriguing idea comes from an American study of 40 men and women whose relationships had ended against their wishes. All said the experience left them deeply hurt.
Their brains were scanned as they looked at various pictures.
Analysis of the scans revealed that the same brain regions lit up when processing the two types of pain, the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences reports.
University of Michigan researcher Ethan Kross said: "These results give new meaning to the idea that social rejection 'hurts'."
"On the surface, spilling a hot cup of coffee on yourself and thinking about how rejected you feel when you look at the picture of a person that you recently experienced an unwanted break up with may seem to elicit very different types of pain."
"But this research shows that they may be even more similar than initially thought."
Other research has shed light on why we often yearn to get back together with a lost love.
Brain scans of men and women pining for a past partner revealed that a broken heart triggers the same feeling in the brain as kicking a drug addiction.
But there is hope for the lovelorn. The study showed that the greater then number of days since the rejection, the less activity there was in the parts of the brain behind emotional attachment.
参考译文：
纵贯历史长河，无数诗人骚客吟咏过心碎的痛楚。
如今科学家们证明了单恋的痛苦不仅是简单的情绪反应。
试验表明被爱人抛弃会激发大脑处理身体疼痛的区域，比如烧伤的灼热感。换句话说，心碎的的确确是疼的。
这项发现有助于解释为何分手会让人长久痛苦。
这项试验灵感来源一项面向40名男女的研究，他们都刚刚结束一段感情，均称内心伤痛不浅。
研究者在他们观看不同图片时对大脑进行扫描。
《美国国家科学院院刊》发文称，扫描分析表明大脑在处理心理和身体上两种疼痛时，亮的地方是大脑同一区域。
密歇根大学研究员伊桑?克洛斯说：“结果让人们了解了被社会抛弃的确让人‘心生悲痛’。”
“表面看来，被热咖啡烫伤，和看着刚分手的另一半的照片产生的拒绝感和心痛感，两者看似是两种截然不同的痛感。”
“然而研究表明它们比我们想象的要类似很多。”
另一项研究发现了为何我们总是希望和旧爱复合。
男女实验对象看到旧爱的照片时，脑部扫描表明心碎感而活动的大脑区域和毒瘾发作时的大脑区域是相同的。
然而失恋的人并非无药可救，因为研究发现被拒绝的日子越久，这部分大脑区域的活动程度就会越低。
