BRAIN scans have revealed why the mere threat of being tickled is enough to
make some people respond as if they are actually being tickled.
Martin Ingvar and his colleagues at the Karolinska Hospital in Stockholm
trained volunteers to associate a red light with not being tickled, and a green
light with the prospect that they might be.
Using magnetic resonance imaging, the researchers found that the same network
was activated in the volunteers鈥� brains whether they were being tickled or merely
anticipating a tickle (Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, vol 12, p 691).
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The study reveals how the brain uses its memory of past events to respond to
events faster, says Ingvar.