{"id":16660726554683,"date":"2026-05-02T04:04:00","date_gmt":"2026-05-02T02:04:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.weltderwunder.de\/why-cant-you-tickle-yourself\/"},"modified":"2024-07-04T11:53:31","modified_gmt":"2024-07-04T09:53:31","slug":"why-cant-you-tickle-yourself","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.weltderwunder.de\/en\/why-cant-you-tickle-yourself\/","title":{"rendered":"Why can&#8217;t we tickle ourselves?"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"weltd-642639613\" class=\"weltd-anfang-text-2 weltd-entity-placement\"><div id=\"traffective-ad-Mobile_Pos2\" style='display: none;' class=\"Mobile_Pos2\"><\/div><\/div>\t\t<div data-elementor-type=\"wp-post\" data-elementor-id=\"16660726554683\" class=\"elementor elementor-16660726554683 elementor-17049\" 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data-elementor-post-type=\"post\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-baa7dd4 e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"baa7dd4\" data-element_type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-8206737 elementor-widget elementor-widget-global elementor-global-16660726500395 elementor-widget-post-info\" data-id=\"8206737\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"post-info.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<ul class=\"elementor-inline-items elementor-icon-list-items elementor-post-info\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<li class=\"elementor-icon-list-item elementor-repeater-item-9a76b48 elementor-inline-item\" itemprop=\"author\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.weltderwunder.de\/en\/author\/welt-der-wunder-redaktion\/\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"elementor-icon-list-icon\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<i aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"far fa-user-circle\"><\/i>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"elementor-icon-list-text elementor-post-info__item elementor-post-info__item--type-author\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tWelt der Wunder Redaktion\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/li>\n\t\t\t\t<li class=\"elementor-icon-list-item elementor-repeater-item-933be10 elementor-inline-item\" itemprop=\"datePublished\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.weltderwunder.de\/en\/2026\/05\/02\/\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"elementor-icon-list-icon\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<i aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"fas fa-calendar\"><\/i>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"elementor-icon-list-text elementor-post-info__item elementor-post-info__item--type-date\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<time>02.05.2026<\/time>\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/li>\n\t\t\t\t<\/ul>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-4a05a3df elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"4a05a3df\" data-element_type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-5cec6a\" data-id=\"5cec6a\" data-element_type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-5826d4b1 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"5826d4b1\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>Being tickled isn&#8217;t always pleasant. Constant tickling can even lead to fatal fits of laughter \u2013 no wonder it was once used as a method of torture.<\/p><div id=\"weltd-361121856\" class=\"weltd-mitte-text-2 weltd-entity-placement\"><div id=\"traffective-ad-Mobile_Pos3\" style='display: none;' class=\"Mobile_Pos3\"><\/div><\/div><p>However, we cannot tickle ourselves. This is due to an innate reflex. For example, if we decide to touch our stomach with our left hand, this information is passed on to our brain and the sensation this may result in is calculated. If the brain\u2019s prediction is correct in this case, we will feel nothing or very little.<\/p><p>In short: We require an element of surprise to respond to being tickled. However, our brain is always one step ahead of us, so we are unable to surprise ourselves. Experts have already conducted extensive research into whether it is possible to outsmart our brain.<\/p><div id=\"weltd-997894978\" class=\"weltd-anfang-text weltd-entity-placement\" style=\"margin-left: auto;margin-right: auto;text-align: center;\"><div id=\"traffective-ad-Content_1\" style='display: none;' class=\"Content_1\"><\/div><\/div><h2><strong>Can we tickle ourselves if we think someone else is doing it?<\/strong><\/h2><p>Could a sufficient element of surprise be created by conjuring up the illusion that we are in another body and are tickling someone else \u2013 while in reality, we are tickling ourselves? Australian cognitive scientists George van Doorn, Jakob Hohwy and Mark Symmons <u><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencedirect.com\/science\/article\/abs\/pii\/S1053810013001487\">tested<\/a><\/u> this hypothesis. To accomplish this, the researchers used a complex apparatus designed to create the illusion of being in another person\u2019s body.<\/p><p>The apparatus consisted of a wooden stick with soft foam triangles attached to both ends. The rod could be moved back and forth in a holder. A camera was mounted on a bicycle helmet and enabled the researchers to closely observe the participant\u2019s right hand.<\/p><p>Participants were asked to place their hand on the surface where the foam triangles were located. During the experiment, their hand was moved using the apparatus either by the participant himself or by the experimenter, with the movement occurring synchronously or asynchronously with a visual representation of the participant&#8217;s hand. Nevertheless, the subjects did not register any tickling sensations. The researchers came to the conclusion that the participants were unable to create unexpecterd movement this way.<\/p><h2><strong>Remote-controlled self-tickling led to success<\/strong><\/h2><p>Sarah-Jayne Blakemore of the University of London then invented a tickling robot arm that moved the subjects\u2019 <u><a href=\"https:\/\/www.weltderwunder.de\/warum-schlafen-unsere-fuesse-ein\/\">limbs<\/a><\/u>. Because the participants were tickled with their own limbs which were remote-controlled at the same time, enough of an element of surprise remained &#8211; and the test subjects felt the familiar sensation of being tickled.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Anyone who has ever been tickled for longer than a few seconds knows that it can be real torture &#8211; our body compels us to laugh as a reflex. However, anyone who tries to tickle themselves will invariably fail. Why is that?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":16660726550309,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"MSN_Categories":"Uncategorized","MSN_Publish_Option":false,"MSN_Is_Local_News":false,"MSN_Is_AIAC_Included":"Empty","MSN_Location":"[]","MSN_Add_Feature_Img_On_Top_Of_Post":false,"MSN_Has_Custom_Author":false,"MSN_Custom_Author":"","MSN_Has_Custom_Canonical_Url":false,"MSN_Custom_Canonical_Url":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3306,3410,3305],"tags":[3307,3426,3386],"class_list":["post-16660726554683","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-article","category-knowlegde","category-new-stories","tag-body-health","tag-psychology","tag-wow-en"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Why can&#039;t we tickle ourselves?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Anyone who has ever been properly tickled knows that it can be real torture - your body reflexively forces you to laugh. 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However, anyone who tries to do this on themselves will fail. 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