Women Make Men Silly

Scientists tested the prediction that mixed-sex interactions temporarily cause a decline in cognitive functioning.

Scientists at Radboud University in Nijmegen, Holland, tested the prediction that mixed-sex interactions temporarily cause a decline in cognitive functioning. In two studies, they had participants interact with a stranger of the same or opposite sex and complete a cognitive task before and after the interaction. In the first study, 40 male participants tended to perform worse on a cognitive task following the mixed-sex interaction, compared to the same-sex one. This effect held independent of whether the participants were single or not. And the effect was stronger when the male participant reported higher attraction to the opposite-sex person.

In the second study, researchers had 53 male and 58 female college participants interact with each other. Men displayed a decline in performance on a different, cognitively demanding task. Moreover, men reported higher levels of impression management in mixed-sex interactions.