By Erika Icon

YNOT EUROPE – Who could’ve seen this coming? A German study has concluded that viewing erotic images online can make men forgetful.

Scientists in Germany studied the part of the brain responsible for holding information while completing tasks — the part of the brain that serves as the epicentre for understanding, reasoning, problem-solving and decision-making. Twenty-eight male subjects were asked to look at a variety of images, some pornographic and others non-sexual. After viewing groups of four images, the men were asked a simple yes-or-no question: Is this current group the same as the group you just viewed?

Eighty percent of the subjects answered correctly after looking at non-sexual images, but only 67 percent answered correctly after viewing pornographic images. Preoccupied? Probably.

The survey’s results also indicated those who view substantial amounts of online porn may suffer short-term memory loss. The researchers hypothesized that if a surfer’s porn habits reach addiction levels, memory loss could explain the life disruptions that often ensue — like failing to eat and sleep and neglecting jobs and relationships.

“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.

The research focused on heterosexual men, so the finding may not be applicable to gay men or women, Laier noted.

The research “is at its first stage,” he said. “Our results need to be tested with respect to gender and sexual orientation to verify.”

The results were published in the November issue of the Journal of Sex Research.

Previous research, which also found degradation in cognitive function, studied the link between processing porn images and the areas of the brain responsible for emotion, arousal and attention.