Less than half of British people know where the heart is located in the human body, new research suggests.
A study involving 722 people found that only 46.5 per cent of respondents correctly identified the position of the heart when shown a diagram with four possible locations for the organ.
Similarly, 68.6 per cent were unable to correctly pinpoint the location of the lungs.
However, researchers from King's College London found that 85.9 per cent of people knew where the intestines could be found and 80.7 per cent knew the location of the bladder.
The public's knowledge of human anatomy has barely changed since a similar survey conducted almost 40 years ago, according to Professor John Weinman, lead researcher on the study, which is published in the journal BMC Family Practice.
He commented: 'We thought that the improvements in education seen since then, coupled with an increased media focus on medical and health-related topics and growing access to the internet as a source of medical information, might have led to an increase in patient's anatomical knowledge.'
In fact, he revealed that there has been 'no significant improvement' over the last four decades.
Ellen Mason, a spokeswoman for the British Heart Foundation, told the BBC that the public would 'ideally' have a better knowledge of their major organs, but that it is 'more important to know how to look after your heart than where it is in your body'.