Heterosexual men exposed to erotic photos are more likely to take larger financial risks than they otherwise would, according to a recent study by Stanford researchers.

Assistant Psychology Prof. Brian Knutson told The Stanford Report that the erotic photos create a positive emotional stimulus that triggers an area of the brain associated with anticipation of reward.

Knutson and his fellow researchers studied heterosexual male undergraduate college students and used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to examine participants’ brains as they viewed photographs of positive, negative or neutral images. Erotic photos were used to trigger a positive response, images of snakes and spires were used to stimulate a negative response and photos of office supplies were used to prompt a neutral response.

Immediately after viewing the images, the participants, who were each given ten dollars to gamble with before entering the MRI scanner, had to decide whether to gamble a dollar — the high-risk option — or gamble a dime — the low-risk option. Each option carried a 50 percent of chance of winning.

Knutson told The Stanford Report that the study, which was published in March 26 issue of NeuroReport, is the first to demonstrate that emotional stimuli can influence financial risk-trading. The study was also authored by Camelia Kuhnen Ph.D. ‘06, Columbia University psychology graduate student G. Elliot Wimmer and UCSD Psychology Professor Piotr Winkielman.

Knutson also told The Stanford Report that there is more work to be done in researching the effects of emotional stimuli on behavior. He plans to study women’s responses and the influence of time, or lasting influences.