Monday, November 20, 2006

Subliminal Erotic Images Affect the Brain

By Ker Than
Source: Fox News


The use of scantily clad models in ads for everything from underwear to ice cream attests to the persuasive power of sex, but a surprising new study finds that our actions can be swayed by erotic images even when they don't consciously register in our awareness.

In an experiment, 40 men and women were shown erotic images that had been manipulated to bypass conscious detection. The participants consisted of both heterosexual and homosexual individuals.

Subjects were then shown a small "probe" pattern and asked to determine its orientation—clockwise or counterclockwise.

The researchers found that subjects identified the probe pattern more accurately when it appeared where the erotic images had been, suggesting that the invisible images exerted an effect on their spatial attentions.

In general, the erotic images attracted or repelled attention depending on the gender of the nude model and also the sexual orientation of the subject.

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