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WHAT , WHERE, WHO, WHY
Why is it that if you tickle yourself it doesn't tickle?There are so many external and internal stimuli hitting you at once that your brain has learned to filter them out. The first ones that get ignored are ones that you do; which is why you probably don't notice your vocal chords when you talk, your tongue movements when you chew and why you can't tickle yourself.
When you are tickled, your laughter is the reaction that occurred because that ticklish feeling sends us into a state of panic. You most likely weren't expecting that person to sneak up behind you and tickle your sides, were you? This was probably a defence mechanism that developed in our cave-men ancestors to detect predators.
When you try to tickle yourself you are in complete control of the situation, there is no need to get tense and therefore there is no reaction.
The part of the brain that cancels out stimuli it is expecting is called the cerebellum. The cauliflower-like mass can be found at the back, under the brain. The cerebellum is known to basically be the party planner, it coordinates movement control in relation to sensory signals received in other areas of your brain.
It is possible to tickle yourself though!!!
You would have to fool your cerebellum. Studies have shown that with as little of a 200-millisecond delay between you moving your hand and the tickling, you would react. However there is only one way to do this- by remote control.
Did you know?
How do we smell?
Specialized receptor cells of the olfactory epithelium detect and recognize smells.
Your nose is a huge cavity built to smell, moisten, and filter the air you breathe. When you breathe in, the tiny hairs, called cilia, act like a broom and filter everything trying to get into your nose; from dust particles to bugs.
The air passes through the nasal cavity and though a thick layer of mucous to the olfactory bulb. The smells are recognized here because each smell molecule fits into a nerve cell like a puzzle piece. The cells then send signals to the brain via the olfactory nerve. The brain then interprets those molecules as the sweet flowers, or the curdling milk that you've held up to your nose.
Humans can detect over 10,000 different smells. The olfactory nerve picks up the scents from the air you breathe and translate them into nerve impulses or messages that are then sent to the olfactory bulb located in the front of the brain. Actually, how and why we smell is still inadequately known. There are many theories about the exact process of our sense of smell. Most believe that it is highly specialized processes in which molecular rings and receptors invite odorant-bringing proteins. It is a very complicate, intricately detailed, and mysteriously misunderstood system, our sense of smell.
Did you know?
" Dogs have 1 million smell cells per nostril, and their cells are up to 100 times larger than those of humans.
" Anosmia is the condition that makes people unable to smell.
" Your sense of smell directly affects your sense of taste.
" Smell can evoke emotions such as happiness, fear, even sexuality. the "smell-brain," the Rhinocephlon is functionally associated with the entire emotional tone of a person.
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