It is funny how many researches and studies are out there about how porn is affecting our brains. Some found that porn is healthy for us and the other found that it is damaging our brain. Some even go so far, saying that all this explicit videos have a negative effect on our lives, resulting in job and relationship loses.
Before we continue, here is the deal – there is no such thing as “porn addiction!” Got it?
If porn would actually be considered as addiction, just think about how many stuff out there would also need to be thrown in the same bucket. Basically we would all be addicts. Well, on some level we actually are all “addicts,” just that most of the stuff is not harmful. At the moment I am addicted to zucchini, so what? They are in season, damn it!
A recent, so called the largest, study on “porn addiction” at UCLA found that human brain’s reaction decreases when it gets exposed to pornography. If porn addiction would be a real deal, the brain would need to have an increased reaction when shown the object of addiction. The same as it comes when you show addiction related objects to cocaine, cigarette or gambling addicts. Our brain would need to show some activity when shown sexual related images, but a “reverse effect” was shown.
In this UCLA study there was a mix of 122 male and female volunteers. Some met the criteria of a “porn addict” and the others denied it. While each volunteer was exposed to sexual and non-sexual scenes, their brain was measured using electroencephalography that measures brain waves. Study measured late positive potential that reflects electrical activity of the brain when a presentation of pictures is shown. When it comes to cocaine addicts, late positive potential is increased when cocaine related images are shown to them. When it comes to people “struggling” with (I hate to use it) “porn addiction” a reverse effect was shown.
To learn more about the new study, read UCLA’s report on PRLog and an article on HuffPost.
Or you can just skip the whole damn thing and go watch some porn.