Back in 1951, these two were the tallest and the shortest guys around at 9 feet 3 1/2 inches tall and 3 feet 3 inches tall, respectively. (AP Photo)

George Costanza and other shorties listen up: This post’s for you. The next time that someone ribs you about the view down there or suggests that you haven’t grown since the sixth grade, throw this bit of research back in their face: You, my petite friends, may in fact be consciously quicker than the taller folks around you.

How so? According to Robert Krulwich’s story on “All Things Considered,” neuroscientist David Eagleman has a theory. Here’s how he explains it. You know how when you cover one eye, you see an image but when you open it up and squeeze shut the other eye, the image shifts? Open both, however, and your brain combines the two images into one? Well, it likes to do that — give you the complete picture, not just visually, but with other sensory experiences, too.

On the NPR segment, Eagleman and Krulwich take it a step farther. Imagine lying on a table and someone touches your nose and your toe at the same time. Well, the signal that someone has touched your nose travels lickety-split to your brain. The toe message, however, has to meander through your legs and up through your torso, before finally arriving at your brain. Your brain, however, tells you that these touches occurred at the same time because it waits for the second message to arrive before relaying the information. If that’s true, then tall people are, well, a little slow. They’re living in the past a little more than their shrimpy brethren.

As someone who stands (almost) 5’4″ in bare feet and has to climb on the counter to reach our pot rack, I think it’s only fair. Take that tall people!

Read more at HowStuffWorks.com:
Do short people live longer?
How Taste Works
How Smell Works
How Your Brain Works