Why can’t we tickle ourselves? And why are some people barely affected, while others burst into laughter or screams? Neuroscientist Konstantina Kilteni from the Donders Institute investigates these questions in her ‘tickle lab’ at Radboud University and recently argued for more serious scientific attention to tickling.
Ever since the time of Socrates and Darwin, people have wondered why we react so strongly to being tickled. Yet it remains a rarely studied phenomenon. Kilteni proposes that tickling is a complex interplay of social, neurological, evolutionary, and developmental factors. Understanding how tickling works in the brain could also shed light on other areas of research—such as parent–child bonding and the development of the nervous system.
For instance, people with autism are more likely to perceive touch as ticklish. This difference may offer insights into how the autistic brain functions differently. Even animals like bonobos and rats respond to tickling. But what’s the evolutionary purpose behind it?
You can’t properly tickle yourself
One of the most intriguing aspects of tickling is that you can’t properly tickle yourself. Somehow, the brain knows you’re doing it, and suppresses the reaction. But how it does so remains a mystery. Scientific research into tickling is made difficult by the fact that the term itself is poorly defined—there’s a difference between gentle stroking and more intense tickling, and no two manual tickling actions are the same.
That’s why Kilteni developed a specialised tickle lab, where a mechanical rod gently strokes the underside of the foot. This makes experiments consistent and repeatable. At the same time, she measures brain activity, heart rate, sweat response, skin reactions, and whether a person laughs or screams.
“With controlled experiments like these,” she explains, “we can gain a better understanding of both tickling and the brain.”
In the news
Want to know more about this research? Read the following articles:
- Wat is het nut van kietelen? Deze wetenschapper zoekt het uit (Trouw)
- Waarom kunnen apen, mensen en ratten niet goed tegen kietelen? (de Gelderlander)
- Waarom kunnen we toch niet tegen kietelen? Wetenschap blijft zich er maar over buigen (Metro)
- Dutch neuroscientists tackle the 2,000 year-old question: Why can’t you tickle yourself? (Good.is)
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