Medical Mysteries NO LAUGHING MATTER

Tickling can go from silly to sick in a second

WRITER: FRED HILTON

One of the happiest sounds on earth is a baby laughing and giggling while being tickled. However, if that little person could speak, it’s likely that you’d quickly be told what to do with that tickle.

Let’s face it: tickling is no fun. At the least, it’s annoying. Taken to excess, it’s downright painful. Tickling to the extreme is actually a form of sadism practiced by certain sickos out there.

So, if tickling is so disagreeable, why does it make us laugh? Good question, and one that has been studied for a long time. “The mysterious nature of tickle has been pondered for over two millennia by some of the greatest minds in history including Aristotle and Plato, Galileo Galilei, Francis Bacon, and Charles Darwin,” writes C.R. Harris of the University of California, San Diego.

“Despite the long history of interest, the empirical research on tickle is rather scant.”

Researchers agree that there are two types of tickling: “gargalesis, the heavy tickling that produces laughter, especially by targeting sensitive areas like the armpits and stomach; and knismesis, which is caused by light movement and tends to elicit an itching sensation rather than laughter”

Erin McCarthy writes in MentalFloss.com.

The most widely accepted theory says that laughter while being tickled is a form of our fight or flight response. Tickling activates the hypothalamus, McCarthy writes, “… and fires when you’re anticipating pain. This has led some scientists to believe that laughing when you’re tickled could be a natural signal of submission to an aggressor, which would reduce the duration of any attack. It also explains why we may laugh at just the threat of being tickled.”

Two British sources, the Daily Mail and the British

Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), agree with this theory. “The laughter from being tickled is part of a defense mechanism to signal submissiveness and the researchers believe that our responses to tickling date back to man’s earliest evolution and developing self-awareness,” the Daily Mail says. The BBC echoes that thought: “Laughing when tickled in our sensitive spots (under the arms, near the throat and under our feet) could be a defensive mechanism. Research suggests that we have evolved to send this signal out to show our submission to an aggressor, to dispel a tense situation and prevent us from getting hurt.”

Don’t try to tickle yourself. You can’t do it. Your brain knows the tickle is coming and there is no need to produce a response.

A bit of trivia – gorillas also laugh when being tickled. It’s a form of going ape.

“Why being tickled is NOT funny: Sensation activates part of the brain that copes with pain,” by James Nye, DailyMail.com, May 27, 2013. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2331500/Researchers-discover-laugh-tickled--answer-funny.html

“Why do we laugh when we are tickled?” British Broadcasting Corporation, February 1, 2014 http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20140131-why-do-we-laugh-when-tickled

“Tickling,” by C.R. Harris, University of California, San Diego, Encyclopedia of Human Behavior, January 31, 2012 http://charris.ucsd.edu/articles/Harris_EHB2012.pdf

“Why can not you tickle yourself?” USCB ScienceLine, University of California, Santa Barbara http://scienceline.ucsb.edu/getkey.php?key=1172

“Tickling Fetishism Disorders – Symptoms, Cause and Treatment,” Depression-Guide.com http://www.depression-guide.com/tickling-fetishism.htm