Ever wonder why a slight tickle by someone behind the knee, in the stomach or the bottom of your foot can make you laugh until you can’t breath?  Everyone has their own tickle spot that if even slightly touched by someone else can send them into an uncontrollable laughing fit.  No matter who attempts to tickle me I can never hold back a laugh/scream/cry as my first reaction.  It may sound silly but have you ever tried to tickle yourself?  If you haven’t, go ahead and try.  You can’t.  Why is that?

Laughing when being tickled is the reaction of your brain and body panicking.  A natural defense to this unknown sensation in the body is to laugh uncontrollably.  While tickling someone seems like a cute and harmless gesture, your body is actually interpreting it as an attack causing you to become panicked and extremely uneasy.  Depending on the person, the thought or threat of being tickled is enough to make someone start their laughter reaction.

The exact reason for why we can’t tickle ourselves is still being researched by many but scientists have studied the brain enough to find out some fundamental reasons why.  Our brains are trained to know what to feel when someone touches us or preforms any function.  When someone else goes to tickle you, your body doesn’t know how to react until it’s actually happening.  When you move your hands to tickle yourself, your brain already knows what movements you’re making and prepares itself before.  It’s almost as though you can’t keep a secret from your own body, making tickling yourself by sneak attack nearly impossible.  There is no feeling of panic or unease whenever you try to tickle yourself so it doesn’t trigger the same response or feeling.

Brain Scientists at the University college of London have concluded that the Cerebellum is the part of the brain that prevents self-tickling.  The cerebellum is at the base of the brain and is responsible for monitoring your bodies movements.

An unexpected reaction like someone else tickling you vs. an expected reaction like you trying to tickle yourself triggers drastically different responses from the body.  So as cool as it would be to send yourself into a fit of laughter, it seems like you’re going to have to get a friend to do it.

http://science.howstuffworks.com/life/inside-the-mind/human-brain/question511.htm

www.handinhandparenting.org

brainmadesimple.com