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Where are you ticklish? Researchers map the sensation across cultures
Nature • • science
Key Points:
- A study published in Nature Human Behaviour reveals that ticklishness is a distinct and specialized body sensation experienced consistently across Dutch, Greek, and Chinese cultures.
- The research involved 448 participants who mapped ticklish areas on their bodies, identifying common sensitive regions such as the neck, armpits, belly, and soles of the feet.
- Ticklishness, specifically the type known as gargalesis, is linked to play and laughter, differing from knismesis, a light touch similar to itching that does not induce laughter.
- The findings suggest ticklishness is a unique physiological and psychological sensation, not merely a by-product of other body sensations like pain or pleasure.
- This study lays the foundation for more systematic and standardized research into tickling, a sensation that has been poorly understood despite its evolutionary presence in other animals like great apes, rats, and meerkats.
