“This is porn. This is your brain on porn. Any questions?” That’s what researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Human Development in Berlin asked in a new study which found that hours spent watching pornography was associated with less gray matter in the brain. For the investigation, scientists recruited 64 healthy males between the ages of 21-45, who mainly said that they did not watch more than four hours of x-rated material per week. Then the researchers scanned the men’s brains using MRI imaging while they watched porn—and the results were pretty shocking.
The study found that the men watching porn not only had a decrease of gray matter volume in their brains, but also had less functioning in the area of the brain used to process motivation. Still, the researchers cannot prove that porn is the direct cause, and they’ve said that they’ll need to conduct further studies before they are able to reach any sort of conclusion. One possible reason could be that excessive stimulation of the reward system altered the brain’s “neural plasticity.” Or perhaps, men with less gray matter in their brains require more stimulation, and find watching porn extremely rewarding. Whatever the reason, researchers will be looking into “your brain on porn” more rigorously in the future.
Looking for something rewarding yourself? We’re happy to report that researchers have found no negative correlation between your brain and NiteFlirt!
Check out more about the study on porn and less gray matter in the brain here: https://www.iflscience.com/
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