Watching online pornography can seriously harm your memory, according to research.

In the first study of its kind, German scientists analysed how the part of the brain responsible for storing information reacts after being show sexual images.

The experiment was conducted using 28 heterosexual men with an average age of 26, each of whom was asked to look at a series of images, some pornographic and others non-sexual.

They were then asked to answer yes or no to whether the image they were being shown was the same as one they had seen before.

The results showed that men had far greater difficulty remembering pornographic images (67 per cent) than non-sexual images (80 per cent).

Scientists believe the result could be vital in proving the link between internet porn addiction and a tendency to forget to sleep, to miss important appointments and to neglect personal relationships.

'Sexual arousal and its impacts on cognitive processes might explain parts of these negative effects,' the researchers wrote in the Journal of Sex Research.