LiveScience reveals the shocking truth that men do rash things when they see women in bikinis. Sexy stimuli don’t make men stupid, researchers at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven in Belgium say, but they do trigger a specific kind of impulsive behavior:
[Men] exhibited improved cognition and creativity after exposure to sexy stimuli.
The researchers conclude that there is one common appetite system in the brain monitoring our desire for a host of pleasures from sweets to pretty faces, alcohol to lotto winnings. When it is stimulated by, say, a sexy picture or the smell of baked goods, we experience a general craving for anything pleasant.
The researchers say this happens because when men experience unfulfilled sexual arousal, their bodies believe their reproductive future is at stake. Which I suppose explains a lot of awfully bad pop music.