A new study claims women make better gambling choices than men when each is placed under stressful conditions.

The study, which was conducted at the University of Ohio by ecological psychologist Stephanie Preston, involved over 100 men and women who were told they’d have to give a public presentation on their own bodies following 20 minutes of a simulated gambling game. Given people’s inherent body hang-ups, the researchers wanted to see if knowledge of the impending shame-fest would affect choices made during gambling.

Preston told the Australian Financial Review that she hadn’t expected to see a clear distinction between genders but that was the dominant thread that emerged from the study. As the clock moved closer to the scheduled presentation time, the women in the study made better gambling decisions while men’s decision-making grew steadily worse.

Preston emphasized that the men weren’t necessarily more stressed than the women, but men tended to make more high-risk high-reward decisions as time grew short, betting more on the slim chance of a payoff, while women chose less risky options with a greater chance of a payday. The problem with the men’s strategy, according to Preston, is that they run a far greater risk of losing everything in the pursuit of one giant score.