You deleted the pre-set double espresso option from the coffee machine—last week, they frowned over breakfast and said, Excess caffeine accelerates cortisol secretion.

This tiny choice was like a domino, toppling all the order in your life:

Typing their pet name Lucky instead of Director Wang in a client quote; staring blankly at the timer while boiling instant pasta until the pot caramelized; even the familiar intersection on your daily commute suddenly feeling dangerous—hesitating every time the light turns green, because that right turn leads to their apartment.

This isn’t melodrama. It’s your brain switching to love mode.

1. Love Mode Test: Is Your Emotional CPU Overheating?

Complete these 10 scenario-based questions and tally the points for your answers. Add them up and check the results below:

1. Discovering they’ve listened to a song 10 times, you would most likely:

A. Loop it endlessly, analyzing the lyrics for hidden meaning (3)
B. Share another version of the song on social media (2)
C. Quietly add it to your own playlist (1)
D. Listen once, think it’s mediocre, and move on (0)

Design Basis: A lovestruck brain amplifies all clues related to that special someone, forming memory anchors in the brain for specific songs, leading to repeated analysis of lyrics.

2. If they say, The Americano I had today was so bitter, you would most likely:

A. Order the same coffee with hazelnut syrup delivered to their office (3 points)
B. Search and recommend the highest-rated coffee shop nearby (2 points)
C. Reply, Have you tried adding creamer? (1 point)
D. Respond with, I always have bad luck with coffee too (0 points)

Design Basis: The overactive mirror neurons of a lovestruck brain turn their casual complaints into urgent matters that require immediate solutions.

3. At midnight, you notice their step count has increased by 2,000. You would most likely:

A. Compare their friend list to guess who they were with (3 points)
B. Casually ask the next day what they were up to last night (2 points)
C. Worry they might be in an emergency (1 point)
D. Not think much of it and go to sleep (0 points)

Design Basis: A lovestruck brain triggers social surveillance mode, piecing together fragmented information to construct a complete narrative, consuming over 40 of cognitive resources.

4. When attempting to go 24 hours without contacting them, you would most likely:

A. Unconsciously refresh the chat window and hallucinate message notifications (3 points)
B. Check their Instagram activity status every half hour (2 points)

C. Occasionally think about it but continue watching the show (1 point)

D. Handle unread work group messages normally (0 points)

Design rationale: Love addiction creates a dependency on their interactions like an addiction. Disconnection causes a dopamine crash, triggering anxiety mechanisms and reducing prefrontal cortex control, leading to compulsive behaviors like repeatedly checking their updates.

5. When you come across a post where they’ve shared a group photo, you’re most likely to:

A. Increase brightness to examine photo details (3 points)

B. DM a mutual friend, You guys hung out today? (2 points)

C. Search for info about the restaurant in the photo (1 point)

D. Like the post and keep scrolling (0 points)

Design rationale: Love addiction hyperactivates the brains fusiform face area, allocating three times more attention than usual to analyze their surroundings.

6. Ten minutes after posting a selfie with no like from them, you’re most likely to:

A. Delete and repost immediately with a location tag (3 points)

B. Like one of their recent posts as a reminder (2 points)

C. Screenshot and discuss filter choices in a group chat (1 point)

D. Close the app and carry on with your day (0 points)

Design rationale: When expectations aren’t met, the sudden drop in dopamine forces the prefrontal cortex to seek instant feedback, similar to a gambler repeatedly checking slot machine results.

7. When you see a storm warning, you’re most likely to:

A. DM them Did you bring an umbrella? with a rainfall timeline from the weather bureau (3 pts)

B. Dig up a three-month-old chat log to remind them not to wear canvas shoes that get soaked easily (2 pts)

C. Post a screenshot of a storm warning in a group chat and everyone (1 pt)

D. Check the rain probability in their area on the weather app (0 pts)

Design rationale: The lovestruck brain activates an overcare mechanism, turning routine reminders into self-indulgent acts of devotion.

8. They posted about a new bubble tea flavor on social media. The next day, you’re most likely to:

A. Order the same drink and have it delivered to their office (3 pts)

B. Casually bring up the shop in conversation (2 pts)

C. Try the drink yourself (1 pt)

D. Note the shop name as an option for future hangouts (0 pts)

Design rationale: The nucleus accumbens converts their preferences into action commands, generating anticipatory dopamine during treat-giving behavior at 2.3 times the intensity of actually drinking the tea.

9. You notice something they mentioned liking is on sale, but it’s over your monthly budget. You’re most likely to:

A. Buy it on installments and claim you won it in a giveaway (3 pts)

B. Order it immediately and cancel your own shopping plans (2 pts)

C. Add it to a wishlist as a potential holiday gift (1 pt)

D. Text them the sale info (0 pts)

Design Rationale: The lovestruck brain activates a resource allocation mode, prioritizing their needs while cutting back on personal spending.

10. During a group meal, you accidentally brush their fingers. You would most likely:

A. Spend the entire night replaying the sensation in your head, possibly losing sleep (3 pts)
B. Later find an excuse to pass them something, creating another chance to touch (2 pts)
C. Feel a secret thrill but continue interacting normally (1 pt)
D. Not even notice it happened (0 pts)

Design Rationale: The lovestruck brain extends sensory memory retention, turning accidental contact into a neural replay lasting over two hours.

Test Results Breakdown:

0-9 Points: Autopilot Mode – Emotional Steady State

Your brain operates like a smartwatch on Do Not Disturb—their messages trigger a notification buzz, but they won’t interrupt your podcast.

When they share a Darwin playlist, you might recall the song’s cover on a talent show but won’t analyze whether the lyrics hint at relationship evolution. If they complain, This coffee’s bitter, you’ll casually recommend your go-to brand without researching bean origins.

This brain comes with built-in impulse control—your prefrontal cortex (logic) and limbic system (emotion) work in perfect sync.

When encountering information about them, the neural network automatically filters—highlighting and bolding their mango allergy as a priority, while archiving their 30-second rant about crowded subways like an ignored ad message.

Just as a phone distinguishes important alerts from spam—never missing a package notification, yet undisturbed by pop-up promotions.

Only 12 of those who took the love-struck brain test scored in this stage.

cta middle

10-16 Points: Mild State—Occasional Distraction Mode

Your brain operates like sporadic phone notifications—occasionally drawn to details about them, but mostly functioning normally in daily life.

For example, spotting a bubble tea shop they mentioned might make you glance at the sign, but you won’t detour to buy it. Scrolling past their social media post may briefly pique your curiosity about a corner in their photo, but a few short videos later, you can put your phone down.

Research shows that in this state, your rational decision-making zone (prefrontal cortex) remains over 70 active—like occasionally checking the GPS while driving, yet keeping a firm grip on the wheel.

Memories about them (like their dislike of cilantro) may get prioritized storage, but they won’t crowd out space for work deadlines or friends’ birthdays.

17-23 Points: Moderate State — Always-On Attention Mode

Your brain is like hosting a TA-exclusive live stream, constantly analyzing their updates even while youre doing other things.

When you notice their WeChat step count suddenly spike at midnight, you instinctively check the step leaderboard of mutual friends. If they casually mention their coffee is too bitter, you immediately dig up five different coffee bean roasting guides—maybe even consider ordering a pour-over set.

During this phase, your brains pleasure center (nucleus accumbens) becomes hyper-sensitive. A simple What’s up? from them can send your heart racing, while an unanswered message might have you repeatedly checking your phone.

Interestingly, your brain starts piecing together clues like a detective—deciphering their mood from an Instagram story filter or deducing their sleep schedule from their likes.

This intense data processing might make you forget about tomorrow’s meeting, yet you can recall a playlist they shared three months ago with perfect clarity.

24-30 Points: Deep Engagement Mode — Full-Screen Immersion

Your brain feels stuck on repeat, and every little detail in life seems to connect back to them.

When their hand accidentally brushes against your cup during a group dinner, you can vividly recall the angle and warmth of that touch. In the group photos they post, you’ll notice the person in the far left of the third row wearing the same shoes as them, prompting you to comb through that person’s Facebook feed from the past three years to confirm their relationship.

Neuroscience has found that in this state, the activity in your brain’s rational control center (the prefrontal cortex) drops even lower than during a hangover, while your emotional centers light up like lanterns on New Year’s Eve.

Research shows that maintaining this state for two weeks can lead to permanent memory distortions:

You’ll automatically translate their I’m busy into I’m thinking of you, and interpret their read-but-unreplied messages as afraid of revealing too much. Those late-night deep dives into their social media will eventually become as ingrained in your biological clock as a nicotine addiction.

If you’re at this stage, it’s recommended to immediately implement the emotional first-aid plan outlined later.

II. The Brain’s User Manual: A Neuroscientific Explanation of Lovesickness

As you checked off items in the previous lovesickness test, you might have been surprised to discover that behind those seemingly melodramatic behaviors lies a precise neural program. Now, let’s put the neural microscope on this covert biochemical performance and see how it steers your emotional trajectory:

1. The Dopamine Trap: Why Cant You Stop Thinking About Them?

The brains pleasure center (nucleus accumbens) goes into overdrive when youre in love—scrolling through their social media releases three times more dopamine than eating chocolate. Meanwhile, blood flow to the prefrontal cortex, responsible for rational control, drops by 19, like a car with failing brakes while still flooring the accelerator.

What’s worse, your brain marks anything related to them as high priority:

Catching a whiff of their signature perfume makes your heart race faster than seeing a message from your boss; spotting their favorite drink triggers more intense focus than you muster at work.

This mechanism evolved to help humans remember where food and danger are, but now it’s fixated on they like their milk tea with 30 sugar and less ice.

2. The Memory Filter: Why Do You Keep Forgetting Their Flaws?

Under the influence of hormones, your hippocampus (the brain’s memory manager) engraves their offhand promises like monuments, while their broken commitments are scribbled on sticky notes that vanish with the slightest breeze.

Studies show that lovestruck individuals remember details about their crush four times more accurately than average, yet selectively forget the nine times they were stood up.

This memory retouching works just like phone apps that edit a round face into a sculpted jawline—same principle, different obsession.

3. Pain Addiction: Why Cant You Let Go Even When It Hurts?

When their hot-and-cold behavior twists your stomach into knots, your brain is performing a dark magic trick—the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (your pain-processing center) repackages physical discomfort as proof of love.

This twisted mechanism is identical to gambling addiction:

Just as gamblers mistake the adrenaline rush of losing for excitement, you mistake the pain they bring for passion.

Even worse, every time they reappear, your brain floods you with double the dopamine to compensate for the earlier suffering, trapping you in a vicious cycle of the more it hurts, the more you love.

4. Social Surveillance: Why You Turn into Sherlock Holmes

When youre analyzing their WeChat step count at 3 a.m., your brain burns a staggering 480 kcal/hour—

That’s equivalent to solving two full sets of college entrance math exams back-to-back.

This detective mode is actually your mirror neurons working overtime.

When you can’t directly know what they’re doing, these neurons act like a security program running a frantic deep scan—scrutinizing every fragmented clue, from fitness app heart rate data to Snapchat map updates, turning them all into forensic evidence.

This round-the-clock surveillance is particularly mentally taxing—its like running 10 background apps on your phone simultaneously. Not only does the device overheat, but the battery life also plummets at an alarming rate.

Image provided by Thomas Ulrich on Pixabay

III. Emergency Intervention: Four First-Aid Kits from Relationship Counselors

When love-struck thoughts send you hurtling uncontrollably like a runaway rollercoaster on an emotional track, consider turning to the wisdom of relationship counselors. Whether its the bittersweet push-and-pull of a situationship or the excessive daydreaming about someone while single, these methods act like installing a screen time system for your brain, helping reason and emotion reconcile once more.

1. Press Pause on Emotions: The Cooling-Off Period

Psychological research shows that during heightened emotions, the prefrontal cortex—responsible for rational decision-making—goes offline, while the amygdala, which governs emotions, becomes hyperactive—

It’s like flooring the gas pedal while forgetting to brake.

Try setting a 24-hour cooling-off period for yourself:

Turn off real-time social media monitoring, lock your phone in a drawer, and immerse yourself in baking or a brisk 5-kilometer walk to interrupt those 60-second voice messages you were about to send.

Especially for those prone to fantasy romance, this isolation pod prevents you from turning a coffee shop encounter into a fabricated meant-to-be destiny.

(This method has been tested on high-scoring groups of love-obsessed individuals—executing it for 24 hours can reduce amygdala activity by 37).

▋ Practical Tips:

• 15-Minute Buffer Rule: When emotions run high, force yourself to complete three tasks (drink water, tidy your desk, stretch) before taking action.

• Reality Anchor List: Note down 5 moments when the other person turned you off in your phone memo—reread it when emotions overwhelm you.

• Scene-Switching Technique: Set a trigger phrase (e.g., Why haven’t they replied yet?), and the moment you notice it, immediately change your physical space (bedroom → kitchen / desk → break room).

2. Step Out of Your Own Script: Role-Reversal Practice

Love obsession often traps people in a protagonist perspective, fixated solely on their own emotions.

Try stepping into the other person’s shoes for a moment—dependency-prone lovers can practice taking initiative in caring for their partner, while habitual givers should practice receiving care.

This swap activates the brain’s mirror neurons, essentially installing an empathy projector on a neural level.

When you begin to understand their exhausted silence after overtime work, or decipher their unspoken stress, the resentment born from self-centeredness often dissipates.

This applies to singles too—before sending that lengthy love confession, first imagine how the recipient would genuinely feel upon reading it.

▋ Practical Tips:

• Behavior Mirroring Experiment: For three consecutive days, mimic their communication habits (e.g., if they often send voice messages, switch to voice notes; if they love using emojis, respond only with stickers).

• Mirror Questioning Method: Before asking, What are you thinking? first ask yourself, What do I need right now?

• Needs Comparison Chart: Divide a page into two columns—What I Think They Need and What They Actually Express—and update it weekly.

3. Create a Balance Sheet for Love: Emotional Cost Accounting

Viewing relationships through an economic lens might not seem romantic, but it helps avoid the trap of overinvestment.

Try listing the time, energy, and money you’ve spent on them, then compare it to the emotional fulfillment you’ve gained—like calculating a return on investment.

When you find yourself staying up until 2 a.m. waiting for a goodnight text, only to realize they didn’t even notice your new haircut—or when meticulously planned dates are met with half-hearted responses, or one-sided conversations feel like playing catch alone—it’s time to question whether you’re overdrawing on love-struck brain credit.

Singles especially need this clarity: No matter how poetic it looks to chase the light, if the other person remains a black hole absorbing all your warmth, it’s time to cut your losses.

▋ Actionable Tips:

• Monetize Your Time: Track the hours spent on them this week and convert them into tangible equivalents (e.g., 5 hours 1 concert ticket / 3 personal training sessions) to visualize the opportunity cost.

• Emotion Sticky Notes: Use colored sticky notes daily to log emotions tied to them (pink joy, gray anxiety), then tally the ratio before bed.

• Stop-Loss Trigger: Set automatic boundaries—like a 3-day cooling-off period—when signals appear (left on read 3 times or initiating contact solo for 2 weeks straight).

4. Map the Relationship: An Emotional Boundary Checklist

Co-create a guardrail guide with clear boundaries—think of it as installing bumpers for love.

Clearly mark the danger zones (like surprise phone checks), where buffer zones are needed (preserving space for friend gatherings), and which fortresses must be defended (personal privacy boundaries).

When lovesickness tempts you to snoop through their chat history at midnight, this checklist will serve as a blaring alarm.

For those who are single, setting up firewalls in advance is even more crucial: How long can you tolerate ambiguous flirtation? What are your non-negotiable principles? These clear coordinates will help you navigate future relationships with fewer detours.

▋ Practical Tips:

• The Three-Question Interception Rule: Before crossing a line, quickly ask yourself: ① Will this actually solve the problem? ② Will this make them respect me more? ③ Will I still care about this 24 hours from now?

• The Social Balance Formula: Agree that each of you meets friends alone at least twice a week—use objective metrics to safeguard personal space.

• The Outsider’s Perspective Trick: Imagine what advice you’d give a friend in the same situation, record it, and play it back to yourself.

These methods aren’t meant to extinguish the spark of romance—they’re about installing a thermostat for that fiery passion.

True intimacy doesnt need to be sustained by emotional highs. The moment you can calmly finish your coffee when left on read, or peacefully hit pause when give-and-take becomes unbalanced—thats when infatuation evolves into mature love.

Image by Petra from Pixabay

IV. The Hidden Gifts of Love Addiction: Superpowers Taught by Heartbreak

Dont rush to label love addiction as a failure—

Those nights spent staring at your phone waiting for a reply, those moments obsessively analyzing their social media posts—these are actually your brain developing unexpected survival skills.

Just as muscles ache before growing stronger during workouts, emotional resilience is built through repeated stretching.

A 10-year Cambridge study tracking 3,000 people found:

Those who had experienced intense emotional investment recovered from work setbacks 23 faster than average.

Because theyd already trained their quick reboot ability in love: crying over someone yesterday, acing a client presentation with dark circles today.

What you dismiss as over-sensitivity is actually your brain upgrading its detection system. People who can deduce moods from profile picture changes or track movements through step counts often demonstrate sharper sensitivity to data anomalies at work.

Just as the keen eye for detail honed by constantly worrying about their lies, HR surveys show that high scorers on the love-struck brain test excel in roles like user research and crisis management.

The storm of love will always pass, but the umbrellas you’ve held, the shelters you’ve taken, and the skill of reading the clouds you’ve learned will become the most practical survival tools in your life’s backpack.

Photo by DaveMeier on Pixabay

Consider saving this love-struck brain test result as your life’s baseline:

If you’re currently in full-immersion mode, those hyperactive neurons might be signaling it’s time to upgrade your emotional firewall.

If you’re in steady cruising mode, your prefrontal cortex has already mastered one of the rarest modern skills—sifting through the flood of information to find the people who truly matter.

Next time you’re anxious over their read but no reply, remember you have more control than you think:

You can either let dopamine keep joyriding or hit the brakes of reason at any moment.

After all, the best love isn’t about silencing your brain’s alarm system—it’s learning to discern your true heartbeat beneath the blaring sirens.

Cover Photo by Маряна Мельник on Pixabay.

Original article in simplified Chinese. Translated by AI.