Recommended Reading: Non-Verbal Communication by "Limbic Resonance"

Limbic Resonance

Our capacity to emotionally bond with another is mediated through a phenomenon known to physiologists and behaviorists as “limbic resonance.” Limbic resonance is the tuning in to another’s internal state; it is the most reliable way a mammal can know the emotional state of another without the necessity of translation (facial expressions, language). Limbic resonance occurs in all mammals, but is absent in reptiles, fish, and most birds. It occurs through eye contact, and the sensations multiply through mutual recognition and the continual back and forth feedback. Two nervous systems for an instant become in sync. Limbic resonance is the foundation of the “love at first sight” phenomenon, combined with other factors such as programmed attractors described below. Limbic resonance is responsible for that tickle in the pit of your stomach when you look into the eyes of someone you adore. When you feel that tickle, so does the other, and the feeling propagates and augments the growing attraction, building the affectionate attachment.

Because feelings can “leap from mind to mind” so to speak, the absence of such feedback is disturbing—as in meeting someone you instantly dislike, and can’t put your finger on why. Many have lost their ability to fully emotionally resonate with another—becoming insensitive, even cold towards others in favor of reason and logic. People know when they are liked, when others feel comfortable around them. Likewise, a negative internal response from another may be reflected back to them in ways we cannot fully understand, and the feelings of discomfort, of dislike, amplify. It is difficult to befriend or even like someone who cannot resonate with you.

The limbic activity of others around us allows us to achieve almost immediate congruence—it can be felt in a movie theater, or as a surge of emotion as panic propagates through a crowd. The ability to read another’s emotional state is older than our own species, yet we distrust it, devalue the sheer joy of being alone with another for the pure experience of his or her inner state, and further isolate ourselves. This is society’s legacy of alienation and loneliness, and we suffer immeasurably for it.

The inner state of others must matter to us. It is essential to our survival and to our individual health more than most of us are aware."

source: http://www.cyberlepsy.com/love.htm