It's Official: Bikinis Make Men Stupid

Men make dumb decisions when ogling bikini-clad beauties—conventional wisdom, sure, but now there's some science behind it. Belgian researchers found that men bombarded with sexy images have a definite drop-off in cognitive skills when compared with those who gaze at landscapes, reports MSNBC. The experiment supports earlier findings that arousal causes "a kind of tunnel vision" and may explain why sex sells so well.

Every brain must balance its animal drives with logic during the decision-making process, explains one scientist. The study's lead author suggests that men distracted by sex "spend money on something they might otherwise not purchase. Men would become more impulsive in any domain after exposure to sexual cues.” (More science stories.)