Our bodies have an interesting mechanism known as “ticklishness”. This is not an emotional state of happiness or sadness, but rather an unconditional reflex of the body when tickled in certain sensitive spots.
However, there is an intriguing fact: only others can tickle you and make you laugh, while you cannot tickle yourself. Despite being such a simple issue, scientists have conducted research to find answers.
If viewed from a certain perspective, this reflex is similar to raising your fist and pretending to punch yourself. Your body will not have a defensive reflex or dodge the blow because your brain controls the actions of your hand and knows there is no danger. However, if someone else does this to you, your body will immediately react by dodging, blocking, or closing your eyes.
Psychology professor George Van Doorn at Monash University in Australia stated: “The question of why we cannot tickle ourselves leads to other interesting questions about consciousness and self-awareness“. Researchers are not only trying to answer this question but also want to push the boundaries of our brain and consciousness.
Only others can tickle you and make you laugh.
Sarah Jayne Blakemore at University College London is one of the first researchers to study how the brain makes quick, yet distinct decisions between self-action and the influence of others. She conducted brain scans on colleagues in two scenarios: being tickled by someone else and trying to tickle themselves.
The results showed that every time we move our arms or legs, the cerebellum registers signals and then sends an inhibitory signal to the somatosensory cortex, where tactile sensations are processed. As a result, when we tickle ourselves, the sensation of laughter and squirming is not as intense as when someone else does it.
From Blakemore’s research, many scientists believe it might be possible to trick the brain into finding a way to tickle oneself. Several experiments have been conducted, including using a long stick with a feathered end to tickle the soles of the feet, or forcing individuals to tickle themselves against their will. However, none of these yielded positive results.
Van Doorn attempted to trick the brain by having participants wear glasses that allowed them to see images from the perspective of a person sitting opposite them. This would trick the brain into thinking they were tickling someone else rather than themselves. However, the results showed that our brains were not deceived.
In fact, you cannot even tickle yourself in your dreams. Recently, scientist Windt conducted an experiment similar to the movie Inception. She selected individuals who had experienced “lucid dreaming”, a type of dream where you are aware that you are dreaming and can control your actions within that dream. However, the results indicated that they too could not control themselves to tickle themselves.
The Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience at University College London conducted research and concluded that compared to being tickled, two brain regions responsible for our feelings and behaviors during self-tickling do not activate strongly. This suggests that the brain can predict what will happen, thereby eliminating the response in the tickled area.
However, when tickled by someone else, the brain cannot formulate a specific plan but only knows that it will be tickled! This surprising sensation makes you laugh and squirm.
The fact that the brain cannot surprise itself is perhaps a good thing. You cannot tickle yourself to laugh, but at least you still have control over your brain and yourself.
Interestingly, individuals with schizophrenia can tickle themselves. Scientists explain that this may be due to a loss of control over their limbs in these individuals. Therefore, Van Doorn suggests that attempting to tickle oneself could lead to mental health issues.
