View Full Version : Porn really DOES make you go blind!
...or is that masturbation?
Anyway.
I was listening to the radio yesterday and they said in a new study of a random selection of people, they're found out that porn and gore can cause you to miss crucial details in your surroundings for a certain period of time.
The study was carried out in such a way so that normal, neutral pictures such as flowers or buildings were shown, and then an erotic/gory picture was slipped in.
The results showed that in the picture directly after the erotic/gory image, the person missed details.
The study said that in the case of the gory pictures, the primal instinct kicked in. "Am I going to be next?" kind of thing. And with the erotic pictures, the reproductive part took over. Well. Maybe it was a case of "am I going to be next?" as well. :p
So, the results of this study determined that for between a period of .2 and .8 of a second, you lose the ability to discern details from your surroundings. Doesn't sound like much, does it? Say you're driving down the highway and you see a gory billboard, say a smoker's lung cut in half. In .8 of a second you could be in a ditch upside down with 3 other cars around you wondering WTF just happened.
Only thing is, I can't work out if this was the coolest study ever or a total waste of money. :D
I call BS.
when i'm watching porn, god damn i know i'm alert as fuck. i pick up every vibration or change in the environment around me as to make sure i don't get caught, lmao
Hah, yeah. I've been caught once. Every creak and noise is enough to make me think I'm about to get caught again. :D
The study is all about missing details visually, but like the post above, I know for a fact that all my other senses go into super mode, especially my hearing. I can pinpoint where everyone is in the house, just with my hearing, when I'm looking at porn.
The study is all about missing details visually,
Yep.
but like the post above, I know for a fact that all my other senses go into super mode, especially my hearing. I can pinpoint where everyone is in the house, just with my hearing, when I'm looking at porn.
Well. Isn't everyone?
tekkan
08-31-2005, 03:13 PM
So thats why I'm slowly losing my vision.
Damn.
setrict
08-31-2005, 03:35 PM
Do you remember the link Jay?
I ran across this a few weeks ago, and they had an online flash based test you could take to illustrate the point. They'd basically put a bunch of slides in a flash program, and adjusted the speed and sequence while having you look to see if a particular slide was present. It was pretty cool, especially since you could take the test yourself.
Do you remember the link Jay?
It was on the radio and I was listening to it. :)
omg all you people talking about heighned senses and not getting caught, that's funny.
where's d_pad.
omg all you people talking about heighned senses and not getting caught, that's funny.
where's d_pad.
GOOD CALL haha. :D
karioskasra
08-31-2005, 04:31 PM
Not blind. Just distracted. Driving down a highway and seeing somebody getting decapitated will have the same effect. Misleading conclusion.
MeneerDijk
08-31-2005, 05:22 PM
I don't believe this 'scientific report'. especially if i don't know the source, the investigator could be conservatively biased.
Not really, kariwhatsit. I'm desensitised to gore and naked people, and so are a lot of the world.
Aside from those fuckwits who preach about this and that.
And Meneer, I agree with you. I was just relaying what I heard on the radio; thought it would be an interesting talking point. ;)
karioskasra
08-31-2005, 05:29 PM
Right. So that must be why people would rather look at porn than movies of the same girls doing the same things except with clothes on. It also must be why naked women sell more beer and products. When a man is talking to a woman and looking into her eyes, and her shirt accidentally flies off, I'll be damned if he didnt keep staring straight ahead, because of course, he is "desensitized to gore and naked people, and so are a lot of the world."
Right. So that must be why people would rather look at porn than movies of the same girls doing the same things except with clothes on. It also must be why naked women sell more beer and products. When a man is talking to a woman and looking into her eyes, and her shirt accidentally flies off, I'll be damned if he didnt keep staring straight ahead, because of course, he is "desensitized to gore and naked people, and so are a lot of the world."
Yay for hostility! *lets out a hearty cheer*
Seriously though, you don't run in the same circles as me. A lot of the people I know are like "um, yeah. Naked people. So, um, how about that weather?"
You gotta stop wit' da stereotypes. :D
karioskasra
08-31-2005, 05:44 PM
If it didn't matter a single bit, then why did the study conclude that it did matter? Dude, all I'm saying is this is a misleading headline that everybody, hell i even heard it on Leno, is using, and if it did make you go blind, I'm going to need a seeing eye dog fairly soon. Total waste of money, as are the studies being conducted to see whether video game/tv violence makes kids more violent. Which I think it does.
Uh oh, I think I just opened up another can of worms.
If it didn't matter a single bit, then why did the study conclude that it did matter? Dude, all I'm saying is this is a misleading headline that everybody, hell i even heard it on Leno, is using, and if it did make you go blind, I'm going to need a seeing eye dog fairly soon. Total waste of money, as are the studies being conducted to see whether video game/tv violence makes kids more violent. Which I think it does.
Uh oh, I think I just opened up another can of worms.
Hey, I don't give a shit either way. I just posted up what I heard ON THE RADIO so people would talk about it and give their opinion. :)
Speaking of opinions. Upon serious though I have come to the conclusion that this was the biggest waste of money ever.
Dead Sexy Vocab
08-31-2005, 06:33 PM
Part of that research is unlikely true, since whenever I (as a 14 year old) look at porn, my senses triple in power, and even just a creak of noise can alert me, my brain yelling "IT'S MOM!!!"
setrict
08-31-2005, 06:57 PM
Take the test yourself (http://exploration.vanderbilt.edu/news/news_rubberneck.htm)
That's actually kinda freaky. The only picture I remember out of that whole bunch was the hand.
Or is that the point?
I think the research only takes into account visual factors. As with everyone else here, all of my other senses go into overdrive since the visual part of my brain is focused on a single image. The other senses have to compensate to maintain spatial awareness, since vision is now out of the question. I guess this does stem back to primitive man though. Think about it, when a caveman and a cavewoman were getting it on, they would still need to be aware of any dangers that may threaten their safety when they are having sex. Nowadays, it's still the same situation, but instead of being worried about predators, we're now all worried about our parents/siblings/roomates/etc.
That's true. it's still a damn cool test.
tekkan
08-31-2005, 07:40 PM
You were suppose to look for the picture that was turned side ways Jay.
Man. And to think I actually though you were cool.
I KNOW THAT YOU... you... person. I'm not a fucking n00b.
All I remember are the cut-up hands though.
tekkan
08-31-2005, 08:15 PM
What? There were cut-up hands?
...duuuuuuuuuuuuuh!
That's the point of the test, buddy, to see if you ca discern details in a picture after seeing an erotic and/or gory picture. :p
Take the test yourself (http://exploration.vanderbilt.edu/news/news_rubberneck.htm)
...I had to play it 4 times before I got it. I didn't spot the hand until the forth time. I don't think I ever looked for the sideways picture.
I think this whole thing is pretty stupid. I mean, if you think about it, how many times in your life have you seen porn and bloody things compared to normal things (although with you guys, you can never tell)? We're humans. We notice things out of the ordinary. It's life.
This reminds me of an argument about sharks. They say pigs kill more people each year then sharks, but they don't realize that we're on land more then we are in the water, so there's more chance of being killed by a pig then there is of being killed by a shark.
setrict
08-31-2005, 11:22 PM
so there's more chance of being killed by a pig then there is of being killed by a shark.
Only if you discount the fricken laser beams. ;)
Actually I think it's very interesting research - though not because of porn or images of gore. I think it's interesting because it demonstrates that our 'processing power' varies depending on circumstances and is not always within our concious control. Even when you know the sideways picture is there, it's hard if not impossible to see.
Everytime your mind visually has to consider on object out of the ordinary, it forcefully shift focus to that object at the exclusion of everything else. In the research, it was limited to porn and gore. I'm speculating of course, but I'm reasonably sure this could be extended to support other types of distractions that take over our minds for brief periods of time.
In a previous thread, I said that if you aren't keeping up with the flow of traffic, your are a danger to yourself and others. A vehicle out of sync with the flow of traffic will register as a distraction to other drivers, whether they are going too fast, too slow, or just swerving. I'd be curious to see if that type/level of distraction causes the same brief impairment that gore and porn do.
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