"Sexual desire and love not only show differences but also recruit a striking common set of brain areas that mediate somatosensory integration, reward expectation, and social cognition" Neuroimaging studies show that love and sexual desire share common chemical reactions in the brain. Both love and lust show neural activation in regions such as the cortical area (e.g., middle gyrus, superior temporal guys, temporo-parietal junction, and occipital-temporal cortices) and the subcortical brain areas (e.g., striatum, thalamus, hippocampus, anterior cingulate cortex, and ventral segmental area). The cortical area of the brain is correlated with a persons self-representation, goals-directed actions, and body image while the sub. Neuroimaging can also show the difference between love and desire. Some brain regions that contribute to either love or lust are the anterior inusla, posterior insula, and the ventral striatum. The anterior insula activates factors that contribute to love such as integrative representations. Where as the posterior insula are involved with factors that contribute to desire such as current sensations, feelings, and responses. The ventral striatum however, becomes activated during pleasurable rewarding experiences such as sex or food.