According to a new German study, viewing erotic images online can make men forgetful when tasked to do certain things.
You might think that looking at online porn is just a bit of harmless self-indulgence, but did you know it could actually make you forgetful?
That’s the warning coming from a group of scientists in Germany who studied the part of the brain responsible for keeping information in the mind while using it to complete a task, critical for understanding, reasoning, problem solving and decision making.
The men involved in the study, all 28 of them, were tasked with looking at various images, including pornographic and non-sexual images. They were told to click ‘yes’ or ‘no’ if the image they were looking at was the same as four images previous.
Rather unsurprisingly, 80 per cent of men answered correctly looking at the non-sexual images, while only 67 per cent answered correctly when looking at porn. They were obviously a little preoccupied.
The researchers say this could help explain as to why some many porn addicts forget simple things, like eating, going to sleep or going to work in the morning.
‘Sexual arousal interferes with working memory, an important facet of executive functioning,’ said study author Christian Laier, a graduate student studying under psychologist Matthias Brand.
