WASHINGTON – You can’t concentrate at work, your mind seems to be racing and you can’t focus. Is it a serious illness? It could be love.

The findings of a new study in the journal Motivation and Emotion finds that intense passion and love robs us of certain cognitive controls. Researcher Dr. Sandra Langeslag, from the University of Maryland’s psychology department, says, “People who are in love have a hard time concentrating on their work or studies because their focus is on their beloved.”

Langeslag teamed up with colleagues from Leiden University in asking 43 adults (all in new relationships) to partake in certain tasks that required focus and attention. These tasks were difficult for these participants to complete successfully.

“We found the more in love people were, the more distracted they were,” says Langeslag.

So the evidence suggests that one’s concentration may actually be impaired when getting hit with one of Cupid’s arrow.

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