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Men who watch pornography may be shrinking their brains and dulling their responses to sexual stimulation, a study has found.
It is the first time researchers have found a possible link between regular viewing of pornography and physical harm.
However, an alternative explanation is that people who spend more time looking at pornography are born with a certain type of brain.
Watching pornography could be shrink parts of the brain linked to reward and motivation.This is according to a German study that found men who watched a lot of porn tended to be lazier. The results provide the first direct link between pornography and a lack of motivation following sexual stimulation
Dr Simone Kühn, the study’s lead author from the Max Planck Institute in Berlin, said it was the first evidence for a link between porn consumption and reductions in brain size and brain activity in response to sexual stimuli.
But the study can’t prove porn-watching causes changes to the brain, she said.
People who already have a smaller ‘striatum’ – the reward part of the brain – may be more likely to use pornography.
‘It’s not clear, for example, whether watching porn leads to brain changes or whether people born with certain brain types watch more porn’ she said.
‘Unfortunately we cannot answer this question based on the results of the present study’ she added.
For the study, Dr Kuhn and her colleague Jurgen Gallinat from Charite University, also in Berlin, recruited 64 healthy men between the ages of 21 and 45 years and asked them questions about their porn-watching habits.
They also took images of the men’s brains to measure volume and to see how their brains reacted to pornographic pictures, says the study published in JAMA Psychiatry journal (must credit).
They found noticeable differences in the men who abstained compared with those who regularly accessed sexual videos or images.
Dr Kuhn said ‘We found that the volume of the so-called striatum, a brain region that has been associated with reward processing and motivated behaviour was smaller the more pornography consumption the participants reported.
The researchers, however, added they could not say for certain whether watching porn was the reason behind the decrease in brain matter. It's not clear, for example, whether watching porn leads to brain changes or whether people born with certain brain types watch more porn, said Simone Kühn, the study’s lead author
The striatum (shown in red), which is linked to motivation, was smaller the more pornography consumption the participants reported
‘Moreover we found that another brain region, that is also part of the striatum that is active when people see sexual stimuli, shows less activation the more pornography participants consumed.’
However other researchers claimed that pornography in moderation was probably not damaging.
‘Dr Gregory Tau of the Columbia University, said: ‘Everything is going to be bad in excess and it’s probably not terrible in moderation.’
Dr Tau, who was not involved with the study, said more research was needed, in particular longer studies to determine whether porn leads to brain changes.
He said ‘It is possible that there are individuals with a certain kind of brain that are more susceptible to these kinds of behaviours.
‘Or, it’s possible it’s the excessive use (of porn) that’s perpetuating itself to causing brain changes. Or, it could be both.’
Dr Kuhn said other behaviours, such as driving a taxi are linked to changes in brain size and functioning.
‘Basically everything that people do very frequently can shape their brain structure and function’ she added.
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