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scientific study on tickling
- Thread starter e4b2
- Start date
The Article In Question
Tickling studies give scientists intriguing tease
Jul. 15, 2006. 01:00 AM
JAY INGRAM
I think we can all agree on one thing: It's really hard to tickle yourself. You can close your eyes and do it, you can try to think of something else while you do it, it doesn't matter. There have been some pretty cool experiments in the last few years that have at least partly explained this, and now there's a new one.
This new study draws the most amazing connections between schizophrenia, dreaming and tickling. First, some background.
Experiments have shown that the reason we don't laugh hysterically when we tickle ourselves is likely that there's no surprise. The part of your brain that is controlling the tickle sends the message "a tickle's coming" to the part that would normally react to that tickle. There's no surprise and no sensation.
Even brain images have revealed that the key parts of the brain don't bother to react when a person tickles himself. But it's the elaborations on this theme that are the most intriguing. For instance, what if it's not clear whether it's you or someone else who's tickling you? How could that possibly happen? It can if you set up the right experiment.
A group in England built a "tickling machine," a rod with a strip of sponge on the end that could be brushed across a volunteer's hand. If the rod was moved up and down by the experimenter, it was ticklish. If the participant moved the rod him/herself (with the other hand), it wasn't.
In one experiment with this tickling machine, things were made indirect.
The subject moved a robot arm, which in turn moved the tickling arm. If the researchers introduced a slight delay between the time the subject moved the robot arm and the resulting movement of the tickling arm, the sensation was suddenly very ticklish. Apparently, because we're used to our actions leading immediately to results, the delay made it seem as if the tickling had been administered by someone else.
The newest study of self-tickling was inspired by the fact that some of the only people who actually can tickle themselves are schizophrenics.
If you think of that as the tendency to mistake your own actions for the actions of others, it makes sense. Schizophrenics hear voices. These voices are actually their own (sometimes whispered loud enough to be picked up by a microphone) but they don't realize it. They think the voices belong to others, just as they think their own tickling belongs to someone else.
But there is another situation in which we hallucinate and create voices for others: dreams. If dreams are like schizophrenia, at least in this sense, then perhaps people just waking up out of dreams would be able to tickle themselves. I know it's a bizarre concept, but all the more reason to test it.
And so, a British team did. It found that the women in the study did indeed find a self-administered tickle was much more ticklish just after they had been awakened out of a dream. However, the team wasn't able to establish the same thing for men. In fact, many of the men reported self-tickling to be more ticklish than when the lever was moved by an experimenter.
Here is where even tickling experiments get complicated. The experimenter who was moving the tickling arm was a man. When he tickled other men, they reported very little ticklishness.
The experimenters wondered if something social was happening here.
As they put it, "females are more comfortable than are males with same-sex intimacy." Tickling does have a kind of intimacy about it — you can't be tickled if your guard is up. That might have been happening here with the guys.
There's a hint here that many more experiments will have to be done, examining all combinations of gender of participant and experimenter.
So, before all those experiments are reported, time to sum up: We cannot tickle ourselves because the usually reactive part of the brain has been warned not to bother.
However, if there's any uncertainty about who's doing the tickling, all bets are off. That can happen if there's a delay between a person moving a lever and the subsequent delivery of the tickle, but also in schizophrenia, in which people can't discriminate between "self" and "other."
And finally, if these most recent experiments hold up, the hallucinatory world of dreams seems to bring on a similar inability that lingers into wakefulness.
Did I hear you say you thought tickling was simple?
Barlow
Tickling studies give scientists intriguing tease
Jul. 15, 2006. 01:00 AM
JAY INGRAM
I think we can all agree on one thing: It's really hard to tickle yourself. You can close your eyes and do it, you can try to think of something else while you do it, it doesn't matter. There have been some pretty cool experiments in the last few years that have at least partly explained this, and now there's a new one.
This new study draws the most amazing connections between schizophrenia, dreaming and tickling. First, some background.
Experiments have shown that the reason we don't laugh hysterically when we tickle ourselves is likely that there's no surprise. The part of your brain that is controlling the tickle sends the message "a tickle's coming" to the part that would normally react to that tickle. There's no surprise and no sensation.
Even brain images have revealed that the key parts of the brain don't bother to react when a person tickles himself. But it's the elaborations on this theme that are the most intriguing. For instance, what if it's not clear whether it's you or someone else who's tickling you? How could that possibly happen? It can if you set up the right experiment.
A group in England built a "tickling machine," a rod with a strip of sponge on the end that could be brushed across a volunteer's hand. If the rod was moved up and down by the experimenter, it was ticklish. If the participant moved the rod him/herself (with the other hand), it wasn't.
In one experiment with this tickling machine, things were made indirect.
The subject moved a robot arm, which in turn moved the tickling arm. If the researchers introduced a slight delay between the time the subject moved the robot arm and the resulting movement of the tickling arm, the sensation was suddenly very ticklish. Apparently, because we're used to our actions leading immediately to results, the delay made it seem as if the tickling had been administered by someone else.
The newest study of self-tickling was inspired by the fact that some of the only people who actually can tickle themselves are schizophrenics.
If you think of that as the tendency to mistake your own actions for the actions of others, it makes sense. Schizophrenics hear voices. These voices are actually their own (sometimes whispered loud enough to be picked up by a microphone) but they don't realize it. They think the voices belong to others, just as they think their own tickling belongs to someone else.
But there is another situation in which we hallucinate and create voices for others: dreams. If dreams are like schizophrenia, at least in this sense, then perhaps people just waking up out of dreams would be able to tickle themselves. I know it's a bizarre concept, but all the more reason to test it.
And so, a British team did. It found that the women in the study did indeed find a self-administered tickle was much more ticklish just after they had been awakened out of a dream. However, the team wasn't able to establish the same thing for men. In fact, many of the men reported self-tickling to be more ticklish than when the lever was moved by an experimenter.
Here is where even tickling experiments get complicated. The experimenter who was moving the tickling arm was a man. When he tickled other men, they reported very little ticklishness.
The experimenters wondered if something social was happening here.
As they put it, "females are more comfortable than are males with same-sex intimacy." Tickling does have a kind of intimacy about it — you can't be tickled if your guard is up. That might have been happening here with the guys.
There's a hint here that many more experiments will have to be done, examining all combinations of gender of participant and experimenter.
So, before all those experiments are reported, time to sum up: We cannot tickle ourselves because the usually reactive part of the brain has been warned not to bother.
However, if there's any uncertainty about who's doing the tickling, all bets are off. That can happen if there's a delay between a person moving a lever and the subsequent delivery of the tickle, but also in schizophrenia, in which people can't discriminate between "self" and "other."
And finally, if these most recent experiments hold up, the hallucinatory world of dreams seems to bring on a similar inability that lingers into wakefulness.
Did I hear you say you thought tickling was simple?
Barlow
TklDuo-Ann
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LOL ANother one, eh? These all err on two major points.
1. They assume the subject doesn't want to be tickled.
2. They assume that less reaction equals non-ticklishness.
Will they ever learn?
Ann
1. They assume the subject doesn't want to be tickled.
2. They assume that less reaction equals non-ticklishness.
Will they ever learn?
Ann
TklDuo-Ann said:
Ann-- I know when my feet are tickled, I instinctively try not to react. That doesn't mean I'm not ticklish. It doesn't mean the tickling isn't driving me nuts. And iit sure doesn't mean I want the tickling to stop. 🙂
inthenameoffun2
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Just to add my little two cents here.
It can be done, meaning that you can tickle yourself. It really depends on the person. We are all differant, and we can not all be comparied to a study if we were not part of it. Thats the general results of a study done by those that may be open minded, but may not be, or may just be really nervous when the experimant was tried. See I have spoken to many women and I have to tell you that the results are very interesting, based on the person. Some can do that, some can not, and then there are some that need to be as I say walked though a way or two to try this. Depending on the person the results can be well interesting and to some, surprising too. There are even a few women here on the TMF that I have spoken to about this and there a couple of women who I was the first to introduce this idea too and now they seam to enjoy it, and from what I have read, they have done this for others to hear. which is cool when you think about it. My little way to help bring some fun to the TMF. ( though they do not talk with me anymore, was I used? LOL kidding ) So again, I think it really depends on the person and what they feel about not only being able to do that, but if they are easy and open minded too. Remember many can be easy and open minded, but just are not able to tickle themself, but there are some that can.
Just adding a little experiance to this topic.
It can be done, meaning that you can tickle yourself. It really depends on the person. We are all differant, and we can not all be comparied to a study if we were not part of it. Thats the general results of a study done by those that may be open minded, but may not be, or may just be really nervous when the experimant was tried. See I have spoken to many women and I have to tell you that the results are very interesting, based on the person. Some can do that, some can not, and then there are some that need to be as I say walked though a way or two to try this. Depending on the person the results can be well interesting and to some, surprising too. There are even a few women here on the TMF that I have spoken to about this and there a couple of women who I was the first to introduce this idea too and now they seam to enjoy it, and from what I have read, they have done this for others to hear. which is cool when you think about it. My little way to help bring some fun to the TMF. ( though they do not talk with me anymore, was I used? LOL kidding ) So again, I think it really depends on the person and what they feel about not only being able to do that, but if they are easy and open minded too. Remember many can be easy and open minded, but just are not able to tickle themself, but there are some that can.
Just adding a little experiance to this topic.
well i don't know about science, but i can tickle my feet and make myself giggle, and even other places as well..and i have proof, peeps from the forum have heard this, and i'm not faking it either..i will say i feel a bit silly doing it, but i can do it.
inthenameoffun2
TMF Poster
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- Aug 15, 2004
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isabeau said:
Hey I remember you.
I would like to think I was the first one to introduce you to trying that? Nice to see that your still around having a little fun with others, lol, good for you.
No need to feel silly, if you enjoy it and you enjoy the feeling that you give others by doing that, hey have fun with it.
Sorry, did not mean to take over this thread. I'll stop.
I'm here to help if anyone wants to know how to try this. Send me a PM and we can talk.
Ok I'll stop now.
Bye.
Toronto Star
I saw it in the newspaper. I'm not sure which section it was in though.
rajee said:Was the article just on the Toronto Star website or was it in the paper too? What section of yesterday's Toronto Star was it in?
Cool find E4B2. Thanks Barlow for typing out the article.
I saw it in the newspaper. I'm not sure which section it was in though.
Don't agree entirely
They claim that an element of surprise is also needed for the tickling and that's why a person is unable to tickle themself. What I don't understand though is unless the person sneaks up on you, there is no surprise when done by someone else because you know the tickling is going to happen and still it tickles without the element of surprise ?
They claim that an element of surprise is also needed for the tickling and that's why a person is unable to tickle themself. What I don't understand though is unless the person sneaks up on you, there is no surprise when done by someone else because you know the tickling is going to happen and still it tickles without the element of surprise ?
method11236
TMF Master
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Blimey.
Barlow said:
e4b2 said:
well that's why although it does tickle, it doesn't tickle nearly as much as when someone else is tickling me. I find that after a bit of self tickling, it will quit, because of course i'm used to my own touch. Inthenameoffun, yes you did introduce me to the fact that i indeed could tickle myself. I had no idea i could do that, since naturally until i talked to you, I never gave it a thought. And during a recent tickle session, i knew that i was going to be tickled, so the element of surprise was absent, however it tickled like crazy.
inthenameoffun2
TMF Poster
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isabeau said:
Thanks Isabeau for those kind words. Glad to be of service, but hey it takes a good student as yourself in order for myself to be a good teacher.
