Kissing on Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day, America. Heart-shaped boxes filled with chocolates and red roses abound. But this year with the hardships faced by millions due to the failing economy, many of you will have to tighten your purse strings today.

Fear not, apparently the kiss should be on your list. That's because new studies suggest that kissing is key to a successful relationship.

According to Reuters Chicago, researchers say a kiss is what helps blossoming romances progress, and a poorly executed one could send a relationship down the tubes. No one knows this better than Helen Fisher, an anthropologist, of Rutgers University in New Jersey who claims "a kiss is a mechanism for mate assessment." She plans to present these findings later today at an American Association for the Advancement of Science meeting in Chicago.

Fisher explains that more than 90% of societies follow the practice of kissing. However, scientists are only beginning to understand the science of smooching which is known as philematology.

Another kiss expert, researcher Wendy Hill of Lafayette College in Pennsylvania, tested the theory that the intent of kissing is to promote bonding, on college students. A hormone called oxytocin is linked to feelings of sexual pleasure, bonding, and maternal care. She found that the feeling increased in the men which she studied and decreased in women, but that may have been due to the variable of birth control which creates high levels of the hormone in women.

Different research done by Fisher explores the brain activity connected to kissing. Fisher believes that kissing can be a gateway to the three primary brain systems used for mating and reproduction. These are sex drive (tied mostly with testosterone), romantic or passionate love (causes a focus on a singular mate), and attachment (keeps couples together at least through child rearing).

These three brain systems seem to follow a logical path: couples hooking up, mating, and eventually raising children. It's a sort of "chain of life" if you will. Unfortunately, this can't prevent a divorce.