The new study used brain scans to track the neural activity of the young men who looked at a series of photos before considering a risky financial decision. If the men looked at erotic pictures, they were more likely to take a financial risk, whereas if they looked at frightening or neutral pictures, they were less likely to take the risk.
Another intriguing revelation from the study: the same part of the brain lit up when aroused or taking financial risks.
Northwestern University finance professor Camelia Kuhnen coauthored the study, and she said that Darwin might hold the explanation for the connection between sexual arousal and financial risk.
"You have a need in an evolutionary sense for both money and women," she said. "They trigger the same brain area."
Kuhnen ran the study with a Stanford University psychologist Brian Knutson. Their findings can be read in the latest edition of the science journal NeuroReport.
Knutson offered his own take on the study's results.
"It didn't matter if the sexy woman didn't tell you anything about the odds of winning a roulette game," Knutson said. "What really matters is that the sexy woman is having an emotional impact. That bleeds over into your financial decisions."
But here's the catch: The study only polled 15 heterosexual young men at Stanford University, and they have no idea if the same holds true for women. Knutson said they didn't attempt to survey women because it would be too difficult to find erotic images that would appeal to the same broad base of women as men.