Tickling yourself doesn’t work because your brain is too smart for it, but touching the roof of your mouth can give you the sensation. The cerebellum is responsible for this and is also the fastest-acting part of the brain.
It’s one thing to laugh at your own jokes, but try tickling yourself and see how unfunny you can be. However, there is a way to give yourself that tickling sensation: lightly touch the roof of your mouth with your fingertip. If you’re like most people, you’ll be surprised at the results—tickling even, in fact.
Scientists say the reason you can’t tickle yourself in most ways, such as touching the bottom of your foot or under your ribs, is because your cerebellum is far ahead of you. That part of your brain monitors all expected sensations, so it won’t allow you to be startled by your fingers like you would when a friend or relative throws a tickle attack.
Indeed, the physiological response of feeling tickled can serve as a warning, in case the thing causing the sensation is an insect or a spider. Essentially, the tickling sensation is your brain’s defense mechanism kicking in.
A look inside the cerebellum:
While the cerebellum makes up only 10 percent of the size of the brain, it contains at least 50 percent of its nerve cells.
The cerebellum is the fastest-acting part of the brain, processing huge amounts of information in a fraction of a second.
Every voluntary movement that a person makes originates in the cerebellum.
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