A new study suggests people who think about sex develop their analytical thinking skills more as opposed to those who daydream about love, who tend to be more creative.
Via Scientific American:
Previous research suggests that our problem-solving abilities change depending on our states of mind and that love—a broad, long-term emotion—triggers global brain processing, a state in which we see the big picture, make broad associations and connect disparate ideas. Sex, on the other hand—more specific and here and now—initiates more local processing, in which the brain zooms in and focuses on details.
Researchers at the University of Amsterdam, University of Groningen and Jacobs University Bremen wondered whether thinking about love might actually help people perform better on creative tasks, whereas imagining sex might prime people to do better on tasks requiring analytical thinking.
The researchers asked 30 subjects to imagine a long, loving walk with their partners and asked 30 others to think of casual sex with someone they did not love. Then they gave the subjects cognitive tests.
As predicted, the love-primed ones performed much better on creative tasks and scored worse on analytical questions, whereas the reverse was true of those who thought about sex. The researchers also subliminally primed a separate group of subjects to think about love or sex and got similar results.
It’s easy to see how a person with more developed analytical thinking skills constantly has sex on the mind. Such a skill is necessary in truly understanding and developing one’s sexual core, such as drafting out the details of role playing games, mapping out a partner’s hot spots and awareness of the unconventional triggers that set one off. And yet, who could live in a world without creativity? That is to say, who could live in a world without love?
Hmmm… are we to assume the grey area not discussed implies people who have developed neither their analytical nor creative skills think of sex and love less, possibly not at all? How sad to imagine, a life without fantasies on sex and love.
Which set of skills do you most identify with, analytical or creative? Do you think the classification fits your fantasies on sex and/or love?
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