Most Irish Mammies are utterly devoted to St Anthony, so chances are you've been advised to speak to the man himself when you're tearing the house apart in search of a missing earring or set of keys.

However, it looks like we may be giving good ol' Anthony a break if we're to follow the advice of researchers at the University of Aberdeen.

According to recent research, the vast majority of us spend too much time searching for missing items in uncluttered areas of our homes when logic would suggest we should hone in on the messier areas of any room.

Conducting a study into the theory, researchers used an eye tracking device when asking participants to find targets in two different visual scenarios.

The findings established that instead of using our peripheral vision to sweep over 'easy' areas, we actually devote all our attention to the tidier areas and tend to avoid areas of clutter… which makes little to no sense in reality, but that's humanoids for you.

"If you're looking for your keys, you should focus on the areas with the most clutter because if they were somewhat more obvious, you would have found them by now," said the study's author Anna Maria Nowakowska.

So, basically we make the whole process harder for ourselves. Good to know.