Why can't you tickle yourself?
- Thread starter Gehanna
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You can't surprise yourself and you always know what your next move will be. I guess a major part of the tickling is that you have no idea where the other person's finger will be next.
According to this article http://science.howstuffworks.com/question511.htm
tickling sets off a fear panic response in the body and your muscles will always know if it is yourself doing the tickling, so no need to panic.
tickling sets off a fear panic response in the body and your muscles will always know if it is yourself doing the tickling, so no need to panic.
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Oh that reminds me, have any of you ever heard of the choking game?
See link for more info:
http://www.connectwithkids.com/tipsheet/2005/235_jun29/choke.html
See link for more info:
http://www.connectwithkids.com/tipsheet/2005/235_jun29/choke.html
Optimus
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Yeah, proprioception nullifies most attempts at tickling yourself.
However, the more important question is, why can't you tickle me?
However, the more important question is, why can't you tickle me?
And yet tickling myself sets off the same sensation as if someone else were tickling me.kikazaru said:
I think the only reason we laugh is because when we're being tickled we know the other person is playing with us, which would be different if they were attacking us.
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Wait! Now that I think about it, I remember a time when I was having anxiety and I laughed. It was when I was pregnant with my daughter and she was breech. The doctor was performing an ECV (External Cephalic Version).
During the process I began to laugh as if I had been told a very amusing joke. The doctor stopped for a moment and said, "I've never had a patient react like that before." I continued to laugh until the procedure was complete. My base emotion was fear and yet my reaction to it was laughter.
I suppose that was my way of coping at the time.
psy7ven
During the process I began to laugh as if I had been told a very amusing joke. The doctor stopped for a moment and said, "I've never had a patient react like that before." I continued to laugh until the procedure was complete. My base emotion was fear and yet my reaction to it was laughter.
I suppose that was my way of coping at the time.
psy7ven
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Hugging and kissing myself doesn't seem to have the same effect as someone else. Kissing my arm gives me no satisfaction whatsoever.writerterri said:
New Scientist reported on an interesting experiment where people were asked to tickle themselves with a robotic hand, linked to their 'real' hand via a VR glove.
They couldn't tickle themselves. Then, they added a small (about 20ms I think) delay, so the 'tickle' happened a fraction later than the hand movement.
Then, people could tickle themselves. They also did MRIs on people while tickling themselves, others, and being tickled. I can't find the article at the moment.
The article went into some theories of the causes, and pointed out that many people with schizophrenia can tickle themselves.
Mind you, it is a strong correlation, not a "A always means B" type of thing.
Very interesting area.
Mac
(PS: Some interesting articles on the subject are:
* http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn3929
* http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg15320712.300.html (Argues against the 'social' theory of tickling..)
)
They couldn't tickle themselves. Then, they added a small (about 20ms I think) delay, so the 'tickle' happened a fraction later than the hand movement.
Then, people could tickle themselves. They also did MRIs on people while tickling themselves, others, and being tickled. I can't find the article at the moment.
The article went into some theories of the causes, and pointed out that many people with schizophrenia can tickle themselves.
Mind you, it is a strong correlation, not a "A always means B" type of thing.
Very interesting area.
Mac
(PS: Some interesting articles on the subject are:
* http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn3929
* http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg15320712.300.html (Argues against the 'social' theory of tickling..)
)
psy7ven said:
I ve laughed before when afraid, and sometimes when people are laughing very hard, it s difficult for me to differentiate it from crying. I ve also laughed after a very stressful situation, and was given to fits of giggles whenever I thought about it after.
psy7ven said:
Yes. We had an eight-year-old die from it in our area about three weeks ago. He played it in his room after his four-year-old brother declined to participate. His parents rushed in a cut him down from the bunk bed where he used a belt to play, but they were unsuccessful at reviving him.
SpookyWriter
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What an awful thing cw37066 but I appreciate your sharing it. We had an inservice about it at work a few days ago.
I recall when I was a child the thing to do was to hyperventilate to get a quick buzz but this just blows me away. It is a very sad thing and yet it grows in popularity among children and adolescents.
psy7ven
I recall when I was a child the thing to do was to hyperventilate to get a quick buzz but this just blows me away. It is a very sad thing and yet it grows in popularity among children and adolescents.
psy7ven
My son is super ticklish, and he swears he can tickle himself. I think he just likes to laugh... and that's not a bad thing, really.
SpookyWriter
Banned
I laugh when I am being tickled and I absolutely HATE to be tickled! I go into near hysterics and that seems to be EVERYONE'S sign to continue tickling me, usually with even more gusto. Hubby has finally gotten the message. The last time he tickle-attacked me, he stopped for a second to let me catch my breath and in that second I bent all of his fingers completely backward with one hand and slapped the piss out of him with the other. Bear in mind that these are things I would NEVER do, and normally couldn't do - he's way stronger than me. It was just my reaction to being tickled. I think it's cruel, and unfortunately a lot of ticklers think it's funny especially since the tickle-ee is laughing.Puddle Jumper said:
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