What causes you to laugh when being tickled.?

Question

Why do some people enjoy it and others hate it.

Answer 1

For me it is usually someone lightly touching or caressing one of my very sensitive ticklish spots like under my arms, my neck, or my feet and toes. It's a reflex but it also is somewhat a learned condition.

Although it is total torture for me because I am ticklish to the extreme, there is a small portion of me that says, "Don't stop. That feels too good!" It's the ultimate love/hate experience.

Answer 2

Some like it because it feels weird that's why they laugh and wiggle. Some find it rather annoying and don't like to be touched that way. It could be a childish thing to those that don't like it as well. This may sound gross and funny but I've known a couple of people that actually peed their pants from being tickled and some women have an orgasm depending on where they're tickled!! lol

Answer 3

Most of us have a ticklish spot somewhere on our bodies, and it is usually pretty easy to find. For some it's just above the knee, for others it's the back of the neck, and some of us go into fits of laughter if someone grabs our sides. Laughing when another person tickles you is a natural reaction. Scientists have discovered that the feeling experienced when we are tickled causes us to panic and is a natural defense to little creepy crawlers like spiders and bugs. Slight tickles from insects can send a chill through your body letting you know something is crawling on you.
That same ticklish feeling sends us into a state of panic and elicits a response of uncontrollable laughter if a person tickles us. It's the moment that you least expect to be tickled and are that causes you to feel extremely uneasy and panicked, which leads to the most intense ticklish feeling. Even if you do know that you are about to be tickled, the fear and unease of someone touching and possibly hurting you causes you to laugh. Some people are so ticklish that they begin laughing even before they are touched.

So, if someone else's touch can tickle us, why can't we tickle ourselves? Much of the explanation for this question is still unknown, but research has shown that the brain is trained to know what to feel when a person moves or performs any function. We aren't aware of a lot of the sensations generated by our movements. For example, you probably don't pay much attention to your vocal cords when you speak. For the same reason, we can't tickle ourselves. If we grab our sides in an attempt to tickle ourselves, our brain anticipates this contact from the hands and prepares itself for it. By taking away the feeling of unease and panic, the body no longer responds the same as it would if someone else were to tickle us.

Brain scientists at the University College London have pinpointed the cerebellum as the part of the brain that prevents us from self-tickling. The cerebellum is the region located at the base of the brain that monitors our movements. It can distinguish expected sensations from unexpected sensations. An expected sensation would be the amount of pressure your fingers apply to your keyboard while typing. An unexpected sensation would be someone sneaking up behind you and tapping you on the shoulder. While the brain discards the sensation of typing, it pays a lot of attention to someone tapping on your shoulder. The difference in reactions from expected to unexpected is a built-in response that probably developed in early human history to detect predators.

Although we are not able to tickle ourselves unassisted, there is a way to trick the brain by using a robot tickler. That's right. With all of the know-how of science and technology, a robot has been designed to allow people to tickle themselves. The same British scientists mentioned above have designed a machine that enables you to tickle yourself by remote control. To use the machine, a person lies on their back with their eyes shut. The robot is located near the person with a piece of soft foam attached to a plastic rod that is controlled by a remote control joystick. When the person activates the rod, the robot will react after a short delay. Even with delays as short as a fifth of a second from the time the person activates the rod until the robot tickled the person's hand, subjects have described the sensation as the same as another person tickling them. So, in a sense, you could tickle yourself with a robotic assistant.

Here are some interesting links:

How Laughter Works
Why is it that if you tickle yourself it doesn't tickle? (New Scientist)
Study: People can't tickle themselves
Why you can't tickle yourself (Nature Science Update)
Physiology of laughter and tickling
Tickling (Earth & Sky)

Answer 4

In every human there are nerves that cantrol or respond to stimili.When one is tickled the nerves send a message to the brain to react to the stimulus.this message that is sent to the brain is called an impulse (impulses when many)The brain also reacts and that makes you laugh.

Answer 5

grumps prob hate it but i laugh when tickled

Answer 6

mmm. being TICKLED makes me laugh :)

Answer 7

it something to do you with your nerves lol

Answer 8

nerve endings.

Answer 9

i dont know, but it is fun to do