Researchers performed three experiments where they showed subjects a variety of images that included food, people, and adult and baby animals.<\/em><\/p>\n In a fine-motor dexterity test, 48 subjects (all between the ages of 18-and 22 and all right handed) played a children\u2019s game very much akin to \u201cOperation<\/a>.\u201d For those unfamiliar with the game, you use tweezers to remove plastic body parts from metal-encased \u201ccavities\u201d without touching the edges and setting off a buzzer. <\/em><\/p>\n Subjects played the games multiple times and, before at least one session, researchers showed them images of puppies and kittens. <\/em><\/p>\n Those images, according to the study, helped them play the game 44% better. Full grown dog and cat images also had a positive effect on performance, but not by as wide a margin: just 5%. <\/em><\/p>\n Cute images, however, may not only effect motor abilities, but have a positive cognitive effect, as well.<\/em><\/p>\n In another experiment, a new group of 18-to-20 year olds performed a series of visual search tasks where they had to identify text and numbers in images and images comprised of text and numbers. They, too, were shown cute images in between tasks. The results weren\u2019t as dramatic, but their ability to properly identify the images did improve by 2%.<\/em><\/p>\n So the lesson here?\u00a0 Cute pet pictures are good for you and for your friends too!<\/p>\n Go ahead, test yourself….look at the picture below……..<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.vetlocator.com\/dailypaws\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/Cute-Adorable-Maltese.jpg\" "\\"Cute")
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