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| Fine for some |
Well, okay, actually the award is regarding the connection between bladder urgency and poor decision making.
Consequences, dare I suggest, those with bladder (or other!) urgency know all too well, now recognised by 'official' scientific research.
This, from the ABC news site, on the awarding of this year's IgNobels:
...delaying a trip to the toilet causes people to make bad decisions are [sic] among the winners at this year's IgNobel Prizes.
The IgNobels are awarded each year by the Harvard-based Annals of Improbable Research as a light-hearted counterpart to the Nobel Prizes, which will be awarded next week.
The prizes are intended to celebrate the unusual, honour the imaginative, and spur people's interest in science, medicine and technology - once they stop laughing.
Most of the winning researchers appear happy to go along with the joke.
Dr David Darby, Director of the Behavioural Neurobiology Laboratory at the Mental Health Research Institute of Victoria, says winning an IgNobel is a mixed honour.
"We're delighted to have the research recognised, but the fact that people are laughing at it is a bit disconcerting," said Dr Darby, who is part of the team that received the IgNobel prize for medicine.
The study, published in Neurology and Urodynamics earlier this year, was the first time anyone had looked at how delaying the need to urinate might impact on mental processes.
"Our discovery was part of a whole line of research that looked at things that might impair cognition, including alcohol, prolonged sleep deprivation and white noise," Dr Darby said.
"In a situation where people can't void their bladder for any length of time, their attention to detail and ability to manipulate information is equivalent to someone with a .08 blood alcohol level."
Dr Darby says there are several possible explanations.
"One possibility is the amount of pain felt by someone with a full bladder; another explanation is that the brain function involved in inhibiting urine flow is located in the inner frontal part of the brain, in close proximity to the areas responsible for motivation, attention and working memory," he said.
"The final possibility is that people simply become obsessed with holding on and can't think of anything else."
Dr Darby says the study has serious workplace implications: "If people are forced to stay on the job when they need to go, there can be safety and other ramifications."



hee hee ...
ReplyDeletebrilliant.
Judy
:D
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