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Much to the dismay of wacky masochists everywhere, the human brain is wired against self-tickling. Because the brain controls movement, it knows what your hand is going to do before you do it. Thus it anticipates the exact force, location, and speed of the tickle and uses that information to desensitize you to your own roving hands.
So why do we have a tickle response anyway? Turns out, it’s a defense reaction meant to alert our cave-dwelling ancestors to creepy crawlies that didn’t know their place, and the uncontrollable laughing fit that goes along with it is actually a panic response.
Even if you know someone else is about to go for your rib cage, it’s hard to turn the response off because a) your brain can’t anticipate exactly how and where they’ll tickle you and b) knowing someone is about to tickle you is usually enough to keep those panic receptors open and ready to go.
This explanation originally appeared in the “25 Most Important Questions in the History of the Universe” issue of mental_floss magazine.
Comments (17)
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Maybe I’m just a freak of nature, but I can tickle myself. It may be due to acute hypersensitivity on my part, but when someone else tickles me the response is severe to the point where it is painful.
I can fully agree that the response is a panic one, makes for a bit of a personal problem for me, though.
posted by Katherine on 4-22-2008 at 12:38 pm
I can usually control my reaction if someone else tries to tickle me.
I can also tickle myself, but only on my stomach. I am ticklish in other places, but I can only tickle myself in that one place.
posted by Karen on 4-22-2008 at 12:44 pm
I am the same as Katherine. It’s much more difficult for me to tickle myself, but my stomach is so sensitive (getting a checkup at the doctor is tricky because I can’t stand the part when s/he presses on my stomach to make sure my organs are ok) that if I trail my fingers over my stomach, it tickles.
posted by Jess on 4-22-2008 at 12:47 pm
I guess I’m the weird one. I have no ticklish places anywhere on my body.
posted by Casey on 4-22-2008 at 12:50 pm
True fact: many people who are autistic *can* tickle themselves. It’s believed to be part of the different functioning of the brain and nervous system but is not well understood.
posted by Elizabeth on 4-22-2008 at 12:56 pm
I can tickle my own feet. There’s no way I’d EVER be able to get a pedicure.
posted by SpaceMonkeyX on 4-22-2008 at 1:24 pm
I can tickle my own feet, too. Being tickled never makes me laugh: hit, bite, and scream, yes. I HATE being tickled.
posted by elizabutt on 4-22-2008 at 1:42 pm
For some people, there’s a degree in which tickling purely psychological too, where the fear or anticipation of getting tickled triggers the feeling. Similiar to how it’s possible to train oneself to will an unticklishness in their body.
Also: there’s a famous old french play about a mime who tickles themself to death called Mimique.
posted by Fred on 4-22-2008 at 2:35 pm
Yeah, I’m another one — I can tickle my own feet. When I do so, though, it’s less of the normal automatic funny-noises-and-flying-limbs response and more of an intensely uncomfortable feeling. (Also, for the record, I’m not autistic.)
I wonder if the “you can’t tickle yourself” thing was ever really widely researched, or was instead just assumed as a “common fact”?
posted by Meli on 4-22-2008 at 11:17 pm
I have heard (& believe) that the only person(s) that can tickle you are those that you do not trust.
posted by payrolldude on 4-23-2008 at 12:28 am
Question – do people become less ticklish as they get older? I mean, children seem to be really ticklish, but adults seem to not be ticklish. I have an ongoing debate with a friend about this. My position is that adults are not ticklish, at least not the way kids are.
I haven’t had a tickle in years!
posted by Diana on 4-23-2008 at 6:56 am
I can tickle myself, not just in one place either, anywhere I’m ticklish.
posted by Em on 4-23-2008 at 8:46 am
Years ago, my younger brother tormented me with tickling, so I taught myself not to respond, using plain old willpower. I became not ticklish, period. Later, I was able to teach this to my youngest daughter when her brother started to tickle her unmercifully at an early age. Of course, the delicious revenge factor now is that HE is very ticklish but she isn’t.
posted by Dolly on 4-23-2008 at 10:57 am
I can’t believe it… I thought I was the only one who had this problem. I was actually searching on Google about it when I found this thing. It’s so difficult for me to stand other people touching me, but I’ve learned to deal with it. I think it’s a process.
I can also tickle myself sometimes, there are some moments where I cannot touch my own belly, it’s so annoying. =\
posted by Manuel on 6-6-2008 at 5:36 pm
I can tickle my own feet, usually if I am standing and take my sole and drag it over the back of my shoe.
And I am MORE ticklish the older I get!
posted by Joe on 6-9-2008 at 3:41 pm
well I am very ticklish. Mostly behind my knees and my sides. I can’t tickle myself, I wish I could though. My friend will tickle me behind my knees for hours, she has too. It was so funny!!! If you ever meet a ticklish person tickle them to tears!!!!
posted by Petunia on 11-24-2008 at 10:01 pm
I love to tickle my own feet & on top of my neck or back.Its not a ticklish as when somebody else does it but i can tickle myself.Its relaxing
posted by maddey on 9-27-2009 at 3:24 am