Study: Students learn more from attractive teachers

LAS VEGAS, NV (KTRK) -- Do students learn more effectively from attractive teachers? If you answered yes, go to the head of the class!

Researchers at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas designed a simple experiment using college students: Students listened to pre-recorded audio of a lecture and were shown a photograph of the professor whose voice they heard.

Subjects retained more information read to them by voices associated with faces they found attractive, researchers report.

Interestingly, neither the student nor the teacher's gender seemed to influence the results, indicating that the attraction was not purely sexual.

"Physical attractiveness not only influences person perception but creates tangible effects on human performance in real world situations," writes study lead author Richard Shane Westfall, whose research is published in the peer-reviewed journal Journal of General Psychology.