Why can't we tickle ourselves? Scientists explain

It is well known that even if a person is very afraid of tickling, he cannot tickle himself. For many centuries, this not too important, but interesting fact occupied scientists and now they have finally found the cause of this phenomenon. It turns out that when someone touches us and when we touch ourselves, the brain perceives it differently.

It turned out that the mechanism of self-touch is regulated at the level of the spinal cord, even before the information reaches the brain. The spinal cord suppresses some of the signals that we don't really need, so we can't tickle ourselves. But this feature works not only with tickling – it also has a more applied purpose.

Everyone knows that when we hit, we immediately grab the injured place. It's no secret that it helps to relieve the pain a little. Studies have shown that such local anesthesia is embedded in our nervous system by evolution. Scientists have studied the reaction of people's brains when they are touched by strangers and when they touch themselves. Dr. Rebecca Boehme, who led the experiment, told about it like this:

The scientist suggested that our brain is programmed to predict how our actions will affect our feelings. That is why we cannot tickle ourselves, and besides, it is difficult for us to give ourselves injections.

But this natural mechanism does not always work. Doctors have long found out that many patients with schizophrenia can tickle themselves and perceive it the same way as if they were influenced by an outsider. This is due to the fact that their brain's perception of the surrounding world occurs somewhat differently.