Staring at naked people makes you smarter: Study

[n2doc]

By Mike Strobel, QMI Agency



Researchers at the University of Tampere and Aalto University showed volunteer men and women photos of models in varying stages of undress.

Before all you women in sensible shoes cry “sexist pig!”, I hasten to add the models also were male and female.

The volunteers’ electrical brain activity was monitored.

Results appear in the current edition of the science journal PLoS One.


more

http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Science/2011/11/23/19013771.html?cid=ETF

[yourout]

1. My IQ must be about 150 then.

[panader0]

2. What about in the mirror?

[muriel_volestrangler]

3. This is 'smarter' as defined by The Sun in Britain

after they ran the story for their Page 3 topless pictures. What the real study showed, not surprisingly, is that brains process pictures of partially clothed people faster, and nudes ones faster still:

In the study, participants were shown pictures of men and women in which the models wore either normal everyday clothes or swimsuits, or were nude. At the same time, visual brain responses were recorded from the participants' electrical brain activity. This method allows researchers to investigate the early stages of visual information processing.

The results showed that, in less than 0.2 seconds, the brain processes pictures of nude bodies more efficiently than pictures of clothed bodies. In fact, the less clothing the models in the pictures were wearing, the more enhanced was the information processing: the brain responses were the strongest when the participants looked at pictures of nude bodies, the second strongest to bodies in swimsuits, and the weakest to fully clothed bodies. Male participants' brain responses were stronger to nude female than to nude male bodies, whereas the female participants' brain responses were not affected by the sex of the bodies.

The results show that the brain boosts the processing of sexually arousing signals. In addition to the brain responses, the participants' self-evaluations and measurements reflecting the activation of the autonomic nervous system were in line with expectations, showing that nude pictures were more arousing than the other types of pictures. Such fast processing of sexual signals may play a role in reproduction, and it ensures efficient perception of potential mating partners in the environment.

http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Science/2011/11/23/19013771.html?cid=ETF

[provis99]

4. so if all our politicians were naked, voters would be smarter?

[customerserviceguy]

13. Perhaps not

but the politicians would then have nothing to hide.

[Angry Dragon]

5. Porn is good for you??

[NMMNG]

6. Sweet

:evilgrin:

[OffWithTheirHeads]

7. You must mean actual, real, naked people.

Otherwise all of those freepers in their mothers basement with the Penthouse magazines with all the pages stuck together would be able to spell by now.

[Blacksheep214]

8. Believe it or not

When everyone is undressed a man will actually notice a womans eyes.

Strange but true!

[qb]

9. I guess I can carry on as I have been to keep my mind sharp in middle age!

:bounce:

[madrchsod]

10. no wonder i`m so smart!

i`ve had at least 50 yrs of staring....

[HubertHeaver]

11. Then I should be a genius. nt

[Occulus]

12. Here's the paper itself- everyone should read this

Or at least begin reading it. It's not quite what the headline suggests.

http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0024408