Now when my wife accuses me of forgetting something she said to me, I can tell her that it's only because she's hot! This is great!

Yes, this really makes sense. I remember, especially in my youth, when confronted with a real hot, sexy girl, there would a reduction of blood flow to my brain along with significant cognitive decline. Of course it was evident where it (the blood) all went.

It's interesting how folk knowledge is often correct for these sorts of things. A lot of psychology research tends to just give scientific credence to otherwise well-"known" facts. It's also interesting how this same folk knowledge is often so wrong on more abstract scientific questions. It seems that humans are much better at understanding themselves than anything else.

Chemdude:

You will find (scientifically verifiable) that the closer you are when you tell her that, the truer it will tend to be (and the more acceptable will be your excuse). Relax--it's all for the best!

So... research-oriented professors have one more excuse to avoid teaching freshman survey classes... "There are dozens of hot young girls there and they would harm my important and cognitively demanding research work!"

Ha. Anyone seen the episode of Seinfeld where George is celibate and becomes a genius and whats-her-face is celibate and becomes a dunce? Now we just need some research showing that interacting with the opposite sex improves women's cognitive performance improves from interacting with men...

" Now we just need some research showing that interacting with the opposite sex improves women's cognitive performance improves from interacting with men...:

There isn't any. That was a male conceit fantasy. It's about the only Seinfeld I can't stand.

I will never forget when I was in high school, the way some of the smartest girls would infantilize themselves when they realized that boys didn't like girls who were smart, especially in math. This was in the early 70s. I don't know if it still happens, but probably does.
Interestingly, the girls who went to an all-girls school, though somewhat boy-crazy, ridiculed those girls who deliberately dumbed themselves down for boys.

Clearly, the researchers don't watch South Park.

This also explains why repulsive nerds do so well in the cognitively demanding fields of math and science: http://www.corrupt.org/news/ the_...ret_of_the_nerd