Fantasizing about sex gets more than just your juices flowing–it also boosts your analytical thinking skills. Daydreaming about love, on the other hand, makes you more creative, according to a study published in the November 2009 Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin .
Previous research suggests that our problem-solving abilities change depending on our states of mind and that love–a broad, long-term emotion–triggers global brain processing, a state in which we see the big picture, make broad associations and connect disparate ideas. Sex, on the other hand–more specific and here and now–initiates more local processing, in which the brain zooms in and focuses on details. Researchers at the University of Amsterdam, University of Groningen and Jacobs University Bremen wondered whether thinking about love might actually help people perform better on creative tasks, whereas imagining sex might prime people to do better on tasks requiring analytical thinking.
If you found this reporting useful, please consider supporting our work with a small donation. Your contribution lets us continue to bring you accurate, thought-provoking science and medical news that you can trust. Independent reporting takes time, effort, and resources, and your support makes it possible for us to keep exploring the stories that matter to you. Thank you so much!