A team of Finnish researchers reached new partial understanding of how human brains react to nude bodies. They published a study about it:
“Facilitated early cortical processing of nude human bodies,” Jussi Alho, Nelli Salminen, Mikko Sams, Jari K. Hietanen, Lauri Nummenma, Biological Psychology, epub May 7, 2015. (Thanks to Neil Martin for bringing this to our attention.) The authors at Aalto University, the University of Tampere, and the University of Turku, Finland, report:
“it remains unresolved whether nude and clothed bodies are processed by same cerebral networks or whether processing of nude bodies recruits additional affective and arousal processing areas. We recorded simultaneous MEG and EEG while participants viewed photographs of clothed and nude bodies. Global field power revealed a peak ∼145 ms after stimulus onset to both clothed and nude bodies, and ∼205 ms exclusively to nude bodies. Nude-body-sensitive responses were centered first (100–200 ms) in the extrastriate and fusiform body areas, and subsequently (200–300 ms) in affective-motivational areas including insula and anterior cingulate cortex. We conclude that visibility of sexual features facilitates early cortical processing of human bodies, the purpose of which is presumably to trigger sexual behavior and ultimately ensure reproduction.”
Here’s further detail from the study:
BONUS (possibly unrelated): Measuring a person’s incoherence