Watching a lot of pornography can have a negative effect on the human brain, a study by some Germans has shown.
The researchers found that watching too much pornography could re-wire the brain and alter its structure and functions. It could also shrink part of the brain and reduce the ability of watchers to be sexually stimulated.
According to the study, having sex and watching pornography cause dopamine, the neurotransmitter responsible for learning, reward, emotions and pleasure, to be released in the brain.
The researchers noted that the more porn a person watches, the more the dopamine that is released, which makes the brain to be desensitised to its effects, which could reduce their decision-making capabilities.
Young people who watch porn frequently were also found to have reduced likelihood or tendencies to venture into risk-taking ventures.
The leader of the researchers, Simone Kühn, from the Max
Planck Institute in Berlin explained that it was the first evidence for a link between porn consumption and reductions in brain size and brain activity in response to sexual stimuli.
She noted that men who view too much porn may become lazier than others and that their research provided strong evidence that pornography might harm the brain in some ways and change its size.
Kühn however, said the study can’t prove porn-watching causes changes to the brain.
About 64 healthy German men, aged between 21 and 45, participated in the study.
Stating their findings Kühn 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.
“We also found that gray matter volume in the right caudate of the striatum was smaller among frequent porn viewers. Men who watched more porn also showed less activity in another area of the striatum, known as the left putamen, which lit up when exposed to sexual stimuli.
“These brain changes are similar to those seen in cocaine addicts, who develop abnormalities in areas, such as the nucleus accumbens and striatum, which are responsible for learning, memory, pleasure and reward.
“Moreover, we found that another brain region, which is also part of the striatum that is active when people see sexual stimuli, shows less activation the more pornography participants consumed.
“In essence, the connectivity between the brain’s striatum and prefrontal cortex worsened with increased consumption of pornography, suggesting poorer and impaired decision-making capability. Thus, frequent pornographic consumption would surely change how the brain works, and basically, everything that people do very frequently can shape their brain structure and function.”
In reaction, a neurologist, Dr. Emmanuel Olusola, said there were convincing evidences to show that pornography could have an effect on the brain.
Also commenting on the study, a psychologist, Prof. Oni Fagboungbe, agreed that watching pornography could affect the brain, and that it could change the conditioning of the brain.
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