Why we can't tickle ourselves

[Dover]

Why we can't tickle ourselves

Jennifer Viegas
Discovery News
Tuesday, 7 March 2006



Feeling ticklish?
Most humans cannot tickle themselves because they anticipate their own actions, which alters their sense of perception, according to a new study.

Since it is now believed that a breakdown in this anticipation process may underlie the delusions in schizophrenia, the finding may also lead to a better understanding of this mental disorder.

"It's well known that you can't tickle yourself," says Associate Professor Randy Flanagan, one of the authors of the study published in the latest issue of the journal PLoS Biology.

"One explanation is that since all the sensations are completely predictable, we do 'sensory attenuation', which reduces our touch perception," says Flanagan, a Canadian psychologist at Queen's University in Ontario.

"If we try to deal with all the sensory information directed at us at any given time, it's overwhelming. We can't focus attention on crucial changes in our environment that aren't a function of our own motions." ..cont'd

http://abc.net.au/science/news/stories/s1585716.htm

[mike_c]

1. so can schizophrenics tickle themselves...?

Someone had to ask.

[Cornus]

2. Thank You

That was my first thought!

[sutz12]

7. No, but they can tickle each other.

[thereismore]

3. They needed to do reasearch to know why we can't tickle ourselves?

Excuse me, but anybody with common sense can figure that out.

[JohnnyRingo]

4. Then why does masturbation work?

Or.... so I heard.

[Nikia]

10. I wonder if some people do have that problem

I don't mean to turn this into a sex thread, but there are those who say that they cannot go without sex becuase they have very powerful physical needs. I wonder if they don't get much out of masturbation. What do I know though? I'm the weirdo who can tickle my own feet.

[BeyondThePale]

5. I disagree...

We can completely anticipate tickling by someone else and we still feel tickled. My wife can look right at me, tell me she is going to tickle my feet, and do it under my observation, and I will still jump through the ceiling. Jeez, I hope that I haven't disclosed too much!

[Nikia]

9. Me too

Seeing my husband tickle me doesn't make me less ticklish. In fact, sometimes just knowing he is about to tickle me has me feeling ticklish right beforehand.

[Cronus Protagonist]

6. Bullshit.! I can tickle my own feet.

You can too. Premise is invalid.

[Nikia]

8. I can too

Reading the article makes me wonder if I am actually schizophrenic. I am very ticklish though and self tickling isn't as ticklish as someone else tickling me, but it is ticklish.

[Cronus Protagonist]

11. Exactly

The premise is flawed. I wonder if this should even be in the science forum :)