Sex can make you smarter but porn can make you dumber, study suggests

First, the good news: a new study

shows sex might make you smarter, as
suggested by recent research in
Maryland and South Korea.
The researchers found sexual activity
in mice and rats improved mental
performance and increased the
production of new neurons in the
hippocampus where long-term
memories are formed, The Atlantic
reported.
Sexual interaction could be helpful
for buffering adult hippocampal

neurogenesis (production of new

neurons in the hippocampus) and
recognition memory function against
the suppressive actions of chronic
stress, it quoted them as saying.
It said the team from the University of
Maryland reported in April that
middle-aged rats that engage in sex
showed signs of improved cognitive
function and hippocampal function.
A study in Konkuk University in Seoul
found sexual activity counteracts the
memory-robbing effects of chronic
stress in mice, The Atlantic added.

Now, the bad news: research showed

fake sex such as porn via computer
may have the opposite effect, The
Atlantic said.
It said neuroscientists from the
University of Texas argued excessive
porn viewing can result in permanent
anatomical and pathological
changes to the brain.
But researchers at the University of
California, Los Angeles challenged
that finding, saying it "offered little, if
any, convincing evidence to support
their perspectives."

Still, The Atlantic noted even short

viewing of pornographic images
indeed interferes with peoples
working memory or the ability to
mentally juggle and pay attention to
multiple items.
It cited a study published last October
in the Journal of Sex Research that
tested the working memory of 28
healthy individuals when they were
asked to keep track of neutral,
negative, positive, or pornographic
stimuli.

Results revealed worse working

memory performance in the
pornographic picture condition, it
quoted Matthias Brand, head of the
cognitive psychology department at
the University of Duisburg-Essen,
Germany, as saying.
But The Atlantic also noted it may
take much more than sex to being
smart.
It quoted Tracey J. Shors, a
psychologist at the Center for
Collaborative Neuroscience at Rutgers
University, as saying only effortful,

successful learning increases brain

cells' survival.
"You can make new cells with
exercise, Prozac and sex. If you do
mental training, youll keep alive more
cells that you produced. And if you do
both, now you have the best of both
worlds youre making more cells
and keeping more alive," it quoted her
as saying she said at a meeting on
Cognitive Enhancers at the Society
for Neuroscience in 2012. TJD,
GMA News