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Just reading the news this morning, came across this little gem.
For Sex, Brain Size Matters
When it comes to sex, size does matter--the size of a specific part of the brain, that is.
Australian researchers from the University of Melbourne have determined that a man or woman's sex drive may be proportional to the size of his or her amygdala, a miniature "emotion" center that is nestled at the base of the brain, reports Nature News Service.
As small as an almond, the amygdala has long been known to process our reactions to fear. But now researchers think it may do something else as well: focus our attention on provocative emotional cues. Previous studies have shown, for example, that the amygdala is stimulated by erotic movies, and it's considered vital for mating behavior in many animals. But until now, the size of the amygdala was never considered important.
The Australian team, led by David Reutens, scanned the brains of 45 patients who had chronic epilepsy, which is known to short-circuit sex drive. Nature News notes that as part of the treatment for epilepsy, each had undergone surgery to remove part of his or her brain, which freed up the remaining areas to run more normally. Here's the interesting finding: Those patients who had the greatest amount of amygdala left intact after the surgery also had the greatest sex drives. Reutens suggests this means the amygdala boosts the likelihood of a sexual trigger that leads to arousal.
Does it hold true for the rest of us? That's the next step in the research, which will entail comparing the relationship of amygdala size and sex drive in a large group. And if there is a definite relationship? "They discovered something quite extraordinary," Jim Pfaus, who studies sexual behavior at Concordia University in Montreal, Canada, told Nature News.
The research was published in the Annals of Neurology.
They should check Lit authors. I wonder how we'd all measure up!
For Sex, Brain Size Matters
When it comes to sex, size does matter--the size of a specific part of the brain, that is.
Australian researchers from the University of Melbourne have determined that a man or woman's sex drive may be proportional to the size of his or her amygdala, a miniature "emotion" center that is nestled at the base of the brain, reports Nature News Service.
As small as an almond, the amygdala has long been known to process our reactions to fear. But now researchers think it may do something else as well: focus our attention on provocative emotional cues. Previous studies have shown, for example, that the amygdala is stimulated by erotic movies, and it's considered vital for mating behavior in many animals. But until now, the size of the amygdala was never considered important.
The Australian team, led by David Reutens, scanned the brains of 45 patients who had chronic epilepsy, which is known to short-circuit sex drive. Nature News notes that as part of the treatment for epilepsy, each had undergone surgery to remove part of his or her brain, which freed up the remaining areas to run more normally. Here's the interesting finding: Those patients who had the greatest amount of amygdala left intact after the surgery also had the greatest sex drives. Reutens suggests this means the amygdala boosts the likelihood of a sexual trigger that leads to arousal.
Does it hold true for the rest of us? That's the next step in the research, which will entail comparing the relationship of amygdala size and sex drive in a large group. And if there is a definite relationship? "They discovered something quite extraordinary," Jim Pfaus, who studies sexual behavior at Concordia University in Montreal, Canada, told Nature News.
The research was published in the Annals of Neurology.
They should check Lit authors. I wonder how we'd all measure up!
