one thing i dont get about ticklish people

[SadCuzNotTcklsh]

If someone is ticklish and they know they are about to be tickled, but also where, how, and when they will be tickled. Why is there still a reaction?
I read an element of surprise is involved with being tickled, so why would someone still squirm away and laugh if they know everything beforehand?

 

[MrTicklefeet]

I don't get why your so obsessed about something like this when you'r not ticklish, nor know the joys of such activities.

 

[SadCuzNotTcklsh]

I don't get why your so obsessed about something like this when you'r not ticklish, nor know the joys of such activities.

Exactly. I completing agree.
Two things I wish for: to be ticklish, or to not be interested in tickling. One seems easier than the other, but I'm just trying to understand what is wrong with me. Like "why me". I must be cursed....

 

[Wade]

It's a good question, insofar as if I'm in an immobilized or vulnerable position and I know someone is about to lower her tickling fingers onto, say, my stomach -- and she's even taunting me with promises of doing exactly that -- it doesn't diminish my ticklishness at all; it amplifies it. The knowledge of exactly where and when I'm about to be tickled throws me into a panicked anticipatory hysteria and once her fingers graze my stomach my laughter in response is all the more desperate.

 

[Coda]

Surprise may be involved, but it's not the sole determinant of the reaction. It feels auxiliary at best. There are a certain number of sensations which I'm sure you can imagine could exceed a bearable threshold, like the difference between a slight amount of pain and unbearable pain. But that threshold is not exclusive to pain; there are plenty of non-painful sensations that you might be able to relate to. A mildly spicy dish compared to an unbearably spicy one. Or -- maybe you've had this -- the mild sensation of pins and needles when your leg has been "asleep" from having circulation temporarily cut off, and then restored. Often that's a tolerable sensation, but if circulation has been cut off for an extended period to render it numb, then the slightest movement produces hyper-sensation which is not painful, but not easy to withstand. It's enough that if you're experiencing it, you tend to be very careful not to move until you've regained sensation.

Tickling is bearable to a point -- light, gentle strokes -- but past a point, it becomes similarly unbearable. Even if it didn't cause laughter, you would still find yourself similarly desperate to get away from it. But on top of that, it does cause laughter, and that laughter feels reflexive, just like reflexes do; its as though your body feels the tickling and asks permission directly from your brain to respond by laughing without consulting your conscious decision-making.

 

[SadCuzNotTcklsh]

Tickling is bearable to a point -- light, gentle strokes -- but past a point, it becomes similarly unbearable. Even if it didn't cause laughter, you would still find yourself similarly desperate to get away from it. But on top of that, it does cause laughter, and that laughter feels reflexive, just like reflexes do; its as though your body feels the tickling and asks permission directly from your brain to respond by laughing without consulting your conscious decision-making.

Great response. Thanks! Yeah, I guess my brain does not do that....

 

[chicago]

Anticipation is a wonderful thing.

 

[omnifeller]

Bottom line, as long as someone else is tickling you, it's impossible to anticipate EXACTLY what the tickle will feel like. It's an innate defense mechanism to recoil from another's touch.

 

[Phineas]

Why is there still a reaction? I read an element of surprise is involved with being tickled, so why would someone still squirm away and laugh if they know everything beforehand?

1) It has nothing to do with surprise, although surprise can add to the reaction.

2) Being tickled is an involuntary reaction. Meaning, the person being tickled has no control over it. They don't consciously think to themselves, "Hello, I am being prodded in a spot in which I am ticklish. I should laugh now, and probably wave my arms and make a noise like 'hoogijooblygooj!' - that should go over well."

 

[SadCuzNotTcklsh]

Bottom line, as long as someone else is tickling you, it's impossible to anticipate EXACTLY what the tickle will feel like. It's an innate defense mechanism to recoil from another's touch.

I wish I had that! 😡

 

[SadCuzNotTcklsh]

2) Being tickled is an involuntary reaction. Meaning, the person being tickled has no control over it.

Stupid me!

 

[ticklishdanny]

blindfolds make people more ticklish 😀 then us 'lees can't tell where you're going next