Marriage-wrecking is in the brain

IT’S a perfect excuse for men who tend to fall for married women – their brains are wired differently.

The part of their grey matter involved in value judgments, decision-making and risk-taking was more active in ‘mate-poachers’, a study found.

Most men distance themselves when they realise the object of their affections is attached – to avoid attacks from jealous husbands or simply being shunned.

But some carry on regardless. Scientists from Kyoto University, Japan, showed 40 men pictures of 150 women and asked which they would most like to have a rela- tionship with. Crucially, they were told some were attached and others single.

While 70 per cent found the single ones more attractive, the remaining 30 per cent were drawn to women who were spoken for. Brain scans of the ‘mate-poachers’ revealed that their medial orbitofrontal cortex was extra-active.

Their own relationship status did not affect whether he had a wandering eye – with married men as attracted to other men’s partners as the bachelors. And as the cortex is also associated with risk- taking, the findings suggest the ‘poachers’ find the idea of an affair with someone’s wife more thrilling than terrifying.

Writing in the journal Social Neuroscience, the researchers said this could ‘lead to mate poaching in the real world’.

Study author Ryuhei Ueda said: ‘Although mate poaching is a socially unacceptable behaviour, such behaviour is not uncommon, with certain individuals willing to approach a person who has a partner.

‘The findings represent an important step towards a neural explanation of socially unacceptable behaviour in love.’