Can clicking through cute photos on sites like LOLCats improve employee concentration and motivation? According to a new study out of Hiroshima University, the answer is a resounding yes.
For the study, which was called “The Power of Kawaii,” researchers asked 132 participants to do two rounds of one of three different tasks requiring either a fast reaction time, fine motor skills, or counting and concentration skills. Between the two rounds, they were asked to either view images of “neutral” objects like pasta and sushi or images of “cute” items like puppies, dogs, kittens and cats. It turns out that the group that saw the cute images improved by as much as 44 percent on the second round of tasks, whereas the other group had almost no improvement.
“The tenderness elicited by cute images is more than just a positive affective feeling state,” wrote the study’s authors. “It can make people more physically tender in their motor behavior.”
Will this study make you more prone to perusing cute kitten photos in the name of productivity?
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