1
00:00:00,280 --> 00:00:02,840
Speaker 1: Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve camera.

2
00:00:03,160 --> 00:00:07,560
Speaker 1: It's ready. Are you welcome to Stuff you Should Know

3
00:00:08,160 --> 00:00:16,880
Speaker 1: from House Stuff Works dot Com? Hey, and welcome to

4
00:00:16,920 --> 00:00:19,360
Speaker 1: the podcast. I'm Josh Clark with me as always as

5
00:00:19,440 --> 00:00:22,240
Speaker 1: Charles W. Chuck Bryant, which makes this stuff you should know.

6
00:00:22,920 --> 00:00:25,400
Speaker 1: How's it going, Chuck? It is great? How are you, sir?

7
00:00:25,520 --> 00:00:29,120
Speaker 1: I'm fine. I'm I can feel spring right around the corner,

8
00:00:29,160 --> 00:00:31,520
Speaker 1: and I'm really getting a little excited. Yea, you know

9
00:00:31,560 --> 00:00:36,360
Speaker 1: the groundhog Roscoe Pete, Colecrane, Coltrane. But yeah, is that

10
00:00:36,400 --> 00:00:41,200
Speaker 1: the Georgia guy? No, that's um general generally, right? Yeah?

11
00:00:42,240 --> 00:00:44,440
Speaker 1: Where is Roscoe? The one in Pennsylvania? Now that's Paul,

12
00:00:45,320 --> 00:00:49,760
Speaker 1: that's right, Pucks and Tawny, Phil Puny Phil, Paul Tucket.

13
00:00:49,920 --> 00:00:53,120
Speaker 1: I think that's that's just some that's just some crazy guy.

14
00:00:53,159 --> 00:00:55,320
Speaker 1: And Paul Tucket. That's Paul Tucket, Pete. This is the

15
00:00:55,320 --> 00:00:58,680
Speaker 1: best start ever. Yeah, it is because none of this

16
00:00:58,800 --> 00:01:01,200
Speaker 1: has anything to do with what we're fixing to talk about.

17
00:01:01,360 --> 00:01:03,800
Speaker 1: Springs around the corner. That just tickles me to death.

18
00:01:04,640 --> 00:01:09,080
Speaker 1: That's not no. Have you heard Chuck of a guy

19
00:01:09,160 --> 00:01:11,760
Speaker 1: named and I'm sorry that I just shamed you on

20
00:01:11,800 --> 00:01:15,880
Speaker 1: our podcast. It wasn't that bad. I've heard way worse.

21
00:01:16,720 --> 00:01:19,080
Speaker 1: We've listened to tech stuff. That's right. Have you heard

22
00:01:19,120 --> 00:01:22,320
Speaker 1: of a guy named Robert Waller? Uh? It sounds familiar,

23
00:01:22,360 --> 00:01:23,959
Speaker 1: but I always say no and end up saying it

24
00:01:24,000 --> 00:01:26,080
Speaker 1: doesn't know you have not heard of this guy. I

25
00:01:26,080 --> 00:01:29,360
Speaker 1: would be very surprised if you had. Robert Waller in

26
00:01:29,440 --> 00:01:35,280
Speaker 1: n was a Walmart employee, uh stalker apparently at the

27
00:01:35,400 --> 00:01:43,160
Speaker 1: UM Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada store. Okay, okay. December was

28
00:01:43,200 --> 00:01:45,640
Speaker 1: a big month for a new toy that had just

29
00:01:45,760 --> 00:01:50,040
Speaker 1: debut called Tickle Me Elmo, and uh, Robert Waller was

30
00:01:50,080 --> 00:01:53,280
Speaker 1: about to find out the links that people would go

31
00:01:53,360 --> 00:01:55,919
Speaker 1: to to get their hands on one of these um

32
00:01:56,120 --> 00:01:59,840
Speaker 1: on December fourteenth during a midnight madness sale. Apparently Walmart

33
00:01:59,880 --> 00:02:03,120
Speaker 1: had sold out of these things, but that hadn't dissuaded

34
00:02:03,400 --> 00:02:08,200
Speaker 1: customers from basically roving the Walmart impacts looking for him.

35
00:02:09,120 --> 00:02:12,200
Speaker 1: Exactly behind stuff is knocking stuff over and they see

36
00:02:12,240 --> 00:02:16,240
Speaker 1: Waller accepting a box of these from another employee, and

37
00:02:16,280 --> 00:02:19,760
Speaker 1: they went after him. But really he suffered. Uh. He

38
00:02:19,840 --> 00:02:23,200
Speaker 1: was pulled under, trampled the crotch was yanked out of

39
00:02:23,200 --> 00:02:26,880
Speaker 1: his brand new jeans. Uh, he suffered a pulled hamstring.

40
00:02:27,919 --> 00:02:31,639
Speaker 1: Back up a second. They physically tore the crotch from

41
00:02:31,680 --> 00:02:34,919
Speaker 1: his jeans trying to get to this trying to get

42
00:02:34,960 --> 00:02:38,840
Speaker 1: their hands on a tickle me a like exactly. Yeah,

43
00:02:38,919 --> 00:02:41,520
Speaker 1: but if there's like three people pulling in the same spot,

44
00:02:41,560 --> 00:02:45,760
Speaker 1: it's pretty easy their strengthened numbers. Um. But so he

45
00:02:45,800 --> 00:02:48,960
Speaker 1: was just swallowed by this pack of three people who

46
00:02:49,040 --> 00:02:51,320
Speaker 1: who were trying to get to these tickle me almost.

47
00:02:51,480 --> 00:02:54,200
Speaker 1: He suffered injuries to his back, his jaw, and his

48
00:02:54,280 --> 00:02:58,160
Speaker 1: knee and uh, he suffered a broken rib and a concussion.

49
00:02:59,080 --> 00:03:02,240
Speaker 1: Not funny, No, it wasn't funny. And we can assume

50
00:03:02,280 --> 00:03:05,919
Speaker 1: that Mr Waller, ironically, in the course of giving over

51
00:03:06,000 --> 00:03:08,120
Speaker 1: these tickle me almost was in no way, shape or

52
00:03:08,120 --> 00:03:11,919
Speaker 1: form tickled. No, and that he probably didn't laugh because,

53
00:03:11,919 --> 00:03:15,320
Speaker 1: as we know, tickling is related to laughter, as anybody

54
00:03:15,320 --> 00:03:19,040
Speaker 1: who has seen it tickled me elmo. Yeah, yeah, but

55
00:03:20,000 --> 00:03:23,320
Speaker 1: have you stopped and wondered why we laugh when we tickle?

56
00:03:23,840 --> 00:03:26,400
Speaker 1: I know you have, because you've asked me before you

57
00:03:26,400 --> 00:03:28,520
Speaker 1: said we should do this, you know. As a side note,

58
00:03:28,520 --> 00:03:30,399
Speaker 1: I read this awesome article in The New Yorker last

59
00:03:30,400 --> 00:03:35,000
Speaker 1: week about crowd trampling and crushes and crowd waves and stuff.

60
00:03:35,320 --> 00:03:37,440
Speaker 1: We should do a podcast on that. We talked about

61
00:03:37,440 --> 00:03:41,120
Speaker 1: it in UM Riot Control Them. I yeah, yeah, yeah,

62
00:03:41,120 --> 00:03:45,640
Speaker 1: it's really interesting stuff. And sad I agree, and that

63
00:03:45,720 --> 00:03:47,760
Speaker 1: they wrote this one because of the Walmart incident last

64
00:03:47,840 --> 00:03:51,480
Speaker 1: year at Black Friday. Somebody died at that one. There's

65
00:03:51,480 --> 00:03:53,240
Speaker 1: no tickle me almost, so I couldn't use it, but

66
00:03:53,280 --> 00:03:55,080
Speaker 1: I saw that in my right screen TVs. I think

67
00:03:55,080 --> 00:03:56,640
Speaker 1: we're the culp for that. That is so messed up.

68
00:03:56,760 --> 00:03:58,920
Speaker 1: What is wrong with people? I don't know? And Black

69
00:03:58,960 --> 00:04:01,800
Speaker 1: Friday deals everybody and he knows they've gotten increasingly suck

70
00:04:01,840 --> 00:04:06,240
Speaker 1: here in this economy. Oh man, all right, so that

71
00:04:06,280 --> 00:04:08,640
Speaker 1: was a little sidetrack. Sorry about that, Josh, No, that

72
00:04:08,720 --> 00:04:11,160
Speaker 1: was the intro. Let's no, I mean, my little New

73
00:04:11,240 --> 00:04:14,600
Speaker 1: Yorker thing. Let's get back to happier. Well, we we

74
00:04:14,680 --> 00:04:17,800
Speaker 1: have a question before us. Why do people laugh when

75
00:04:18,000 --> 00:04:20,839
Speaker 1: we're tickled? This has been around for a very very

76
00:04:20,880 --> 00:04:24,680
Speaker 1: long time. People have pondered this kind of thing, right, Um,

77
00:04:24,720 --> 00:04:29,159
Speaker 1: Sir Francis Bacon said that, Um, you don't necessarily have

78
00:04:29,200 --> 00:04:31,920
Speaker 1: to be in a good mood in the seventeenth century,

79
00:04:32,080 --> 00:04:36,039
Speaker 1: Kevin Bacon. Kevin Bacon was like, I'm I'm neutral on

80
00:04:36,080 --> 00:04:41,800
Speaker 1: this subject um and then uh, Darwin was huge about tickling.

81
00:04:41,839 --> 00:04:43,880
Speaker 1: He did a lot of studying of tickling. I didn't

82
00:04:43,880 --> 00:04:46,120
Speaker 1: know that until I read this. He concluded that you

83
00:04:46,160 --> 00:04:49,599
Speaker 1: have to be in a pretty good mood to be tickled,

84
00:04:49,880 --> 00:04:51,559
Speaker 1: that you have to be in the right frame of mind,

85
00:04:51,960 --> 00:04:57,080
Speaker 1: because both both um, tickling and laughter require a good mood.

86
00:04:57,400 --> 00:05:00,279
Speaker 1: He was wrong, and tickling and laughter are linked. We'll

87
00:05:00,279 --> 00:05:03,000
Speaker 1: get into that. But it's a question that very smart

88
00:05:03,000 --> 00:05:05,800
Speaker 1: people have explored and failed to explain, and we're not

89
00:05:05,880 --> 00:05:08,039
Speaker 1: going to explain it in this podcast Chalk. We're just

90
00:05:08,120 --> 00:05:10,480
Speaker 1: not this was I wrote this. By the way, I

91
00:05:10,520 --> 00:05:12,280
Speaker 1: want to apologize to you. I wrote this in like

92
00:05:13,200 --> 00:05:15,360
Speaker 1: within a couple of months of getting here, and I

93
00:05:15,400 --> 00:05:17,440
Speaker 1: was just out to prove myself and this is not

94
00:05:17,520 --> 00:05:20,320
Speaker 1: my finest article. I confused myself when I went back

95
00:05:20,320 --> 00:05:22,640
Speaker 1: and read parts of this. Can I can I read

96
00:05:22,680 --> 00:05:26,240
Speaker 1: a sentence allowed written by your hand? Yeah, A gentle

97
00:05:26,320 --> 00:05:29,640
Speaker 1: kiss can create physical arousal. So let's talk about what's

98
00:05:29,680 --> 00:05:31,800
Speaker 1: the what's the physiology of tickling? Is that what you

99
00:05:31,839 --> 00:05:34,680
Speaker 1: wanted to do. Yeah, let's talk about touch. You have millions,

100
00:05:34,760 --> 00:05:37,080
Speaker 1: we all have millions of nerve endings, little tiny ones

101
00:05:37,320 --> 00:05:40,839
Speaker 1: um under our skin that tell our brain when touch

102
00:05:40,920 --> 00:05:45,479
Speaker 1: is coming or you know, something or something cold. That's

103
00:05:45,480 --> 00:05:47,240
Speaker 1: how like it sends alerts like get your hand off

104
00:05:47,279 --> 00:05:48,560
Speaker 1: the stuff, that kind of thing, right, that's one of

105
00:05:48,640 --> 00:05:52,679
Speaker 1: the waves we survive exactly when they are stimulated, um

106
00:05:52,720 --> 00:05:56,960
Speaker 1: by something like a light touch, which is called what

107
00:05:57,480 --> 00:06:01,159
Speaker 1: it's called nismesas K N I M E S I

108
00:06:01,480 --> 00:06:05,880
Speaker 1: S And that's um G. Stanley Hall and Arthur Allen

109
00:06:05,880 --> 00:06:10,600
Speaker 1: who decided that there's really just two categories of tickles.

110
00:06:11,200 --> 00:06:15,679
Speaker 1: Light tickling, right like say by a feather, very light touch,

111
00:06:16,200 --> 00:06:18,960
Speaker 1: and then um heavy tickling, which by the way, is

112
00:06:18,960 --> 00:06:21,640
Speaker 1: the only one that can induce laughter, which is called

113
00:06:21,760 --> 00:06:25,839
Speaker 1: called gargolesis is not very good name for it. Now.

114
00:06:26,400 --> 00:06:28,560
Speaker 1: So a light touch, let's say it sends a message

115
00:06:29,000 --> 00:06:31,520
Speaker 1: through the nervous system. It goes to a couple of

116
00:06:31,960 --> 00:06:34,400
Speaker 1: regions in the brain. Josh to help us along, called

117
00:06:34,400 --> 00:06:37,880
Speaker 1: this so mattisensory cortex is right, and that analyzes touch

118
00:06:38,560 --> 00:06:43,719
Speaker 1: and pressure, and then the interior singulated cortex governs pleasant feelings.

119
00:06:43,720 --> 00:06:47,600
Speaker 1: So you put touch pleasant feelings together and your brain

120
00:06:47,680 --> 00:06:53,320
Speaker 1: is going to calculate tickle and laughter maybe. So there

121
00:06:53,320 --> 00:06:56,760
Speaker 1: you go. Well, that's that's the physiology of tickling as

122
00:06:56,800 --> 00:07:00,160
Speaker 1: far as we know, and and anybody who's actually saying

123
00:07:00,200 --> 00:07:03,640
Speaker 1: attention to that little spiel, your ears should have perked up,

124
00:07:03,680 --> 00:07:08,040
Speaker 1: because it's fairly incomplete. We we gathered this information from

125
00:07:08,320 --> 00:07:10,760
Speaker 1: the Wonder Machine f m r I. You and I

126
00:07:10,840 --> 00:07:13,160
Speaker 1: both loved the Wonder Machine, but we both know that

127
00:07:13,240 --> 00:07:15,840
Speaker 1: humans aren't fully capable of using it to its full

128
00:07:15,880 --> 00:07:18,600
Speaker 1: potential yet, and therefore it doesn't fully prove anything. It

129
00:07:18,720 --> 00:07:21,200
Speaker 1: just suggests everything. Let's just give a brief primer in

130
00:07:21,200 --> 00:07:23,920
Speaker 1: the m r I. Okay, a d chuck, it's a

131
00:07:23,920 --> 00:07:27,840
Speaker 1: fancy machine lights up and basically shows you what regions

132
00:07:27,840 --> 00:07:31,400
Speaker 1: of the brain are activated when you're doing introducing certain

133
00:07:31,400 --> 00:07:34,480
Speaker 1: stimula right, and by activated we mean like that they're

134
00:07:34,520 --> 00:07:39,080
Speaker 1: suddenly getting more oxygen supply via blood than they had before.

135
00:07:39,520 --> 00:07:42,000
Speaker 1: So there's a correlation. But the m r I doesn't

136
00:07:41,800 --> 00:07:45,400
Speaker 1: show causation. Although it's a lot of people say, oh, well,

137
00:07:45,480 --> 00:07:47,840
Speaker 1: the m r I shows this, so that's it's not

138
00:07:47,960 --> 00:07:51,520
Speaker 1: it shows causation or correlation, not causation. Well, it also

139
00:07:51,560 --> 00:07:54,360
Speaker 1: correlated in this case why we can't self tickle because

140
00:07:54,400 --> 00:07:59,960
Speaker 1: the cerebellum says, hey, body, your fingers approaching your arm

141
00:08:00,040 --> 00:08:02,720
Speaker 1: it and you know it's coming. And supposedly, if you

142
00:08:02,720 --> 00:08:05,600
Speaker 1: know it's coming, you're not gonna be tickled. And people

143
00:08:05,640 --> 00:08:08,960
Speaker 1: as far back as Aristotle have wondered why, and he

144
00:08:09,080 --> 00:08:13,640
Speaker 1: supposed that, yeah, that's probably it, like you know it's coming.

145
00:08:14,400 --> 00:08:18,560
Speaker 1: The thing is it doesn't. That doesn't fully explain it,

146
00:08:18,560 --> 00:08:20,880
Speaker 1: because think about it, like when somebody comes to you

147
00:08:21,000 --> 00:08:28,000
Speaker 1: like bor it totally does what what? But that doesn't

148
00:08:28,000 --> 00:08:31,000
Speaker 1: mean that this is incorrect. The cerebellum is responsible for

149
00:08:31,160 --> 00:08:36,080
Speaker 1: recognizing motion, not just in yourself but in others. So

150
00:08:36,240 --> 00:08:38,680
Speaker 1: what they found is, for some reason, just based on

151
00:08:38,800 --> 00:08:41,200
Speaker 1: m R S, when you're doing it to yourself, the

152
00:08:41,240 --> 00:08:45,240
Speaker 1: cerebellum is less active. Basically, what they surmise is that

153
00:08:45,400 --> 00:08:49,920
Speaker 1: your brain is judged that something totally insignificant is about

154
00:08:49,960 --> 00:08:52,560
Speaker 1: to happen, so don't pay any attention to it. Let's

155
00:08:52,559 --> 00:08:55,560
Speaker 1: just keep looking out for you know, antelopes to jump

156
00:08:55,559 --> 00:08:57,480
Speaker 1: on our tigers that are coming at us. You know

157
00:08:57,480 --> 00:09:01,280
Speaker 1: what that's called what sensory attenuation. Yes, and that's when

158
00:09:01,320 --> 00:09:04,800
Speaker 1: the brain filters out. Like you said, anything unnecessary true

159
00:09:04,840 --> 00:09:06,880
Speaker 1: to I wonder, though I read this, I wonder if

160
00:09:06,880 --> 00:09:10,480
Speaker 1: someone with alien hands syndrome could tickle themselves. I would

161
00:09:10,480 --> 00:09:14,800
Speaker 1: think wholeheartedly because your brain doesn't know what's going on

162
00:09:15,080 --> 00:09:18,720
Speaker 1: and why because of an accident. Generally with alien hand syndrome,

163
00:09:18,800 --> 00:09:22,200
Speaker 1: your brain isn't receiving the message that your arm is moving. Right,

164
00:09:22,360 --> 00:09:24,440
Speaker 1: That's true. So I guess, yeah, I don't see why

165
00:09:24,480 --> 00:09:26,920
Speaker 1: you wouldn't be able to tickle yourself. So I guess

166
00:09:27,000 --> 00:09:31,920
Speaker 1: one thing, one idea for um that explains ticklishness, or

167
00:09:32,080 --> 00:09:37,199
Speaker 1: the fact that we are ticklish, Um is supported or

168
00:09:37,240 --> 00:09:40,200
Speaker 1: supports the idea or the reason why we can't tickle

169
00:09:40,240 --> 00:09:44,720
Speaker 1: ourselves because it's insignificant, right um. And one idea why

170
00:09:45,080 --> 00:09:48,200
Speaker 1: we are ar ticklish and why we tickle others is

171
00:09:48,240 --> 00:09:51,560
Speaker 1: because it's a product of socialization and a tool of

172
00:09:51,600 --> 00:09:55,240
Speaker 1: it too. Right, Well, you're talking about Darwin Hecker. Yes,

173
00:09:55,760 --> 00:09:58,640
Speaker 1: uh e wall Hecker with Darwin Um. Like you said,

174
00:09:58,679 --> 00:10:01,440
Speaker 1: they they hooked up together and said you have to

175
00:10:01,480 --> 00:10:03,839
Speaker 1: be in a good mood. But that's sort of been disproven.

176
00:10:04,400 --> 00:10:06,000
Speaker 1: I'm not sure how they did these studies, though, they

177
00:10:06,040 --> 00:10:07,800
Speaker 1: said that they would get people to watch like stand

178
00:10:07,840 --> 00:10:10,800
Speaker 1: up comedy and get them laughing, and they found that

179
00:10:10,840 --> 00:10:13,679
Speaker 1: they were no more likely to laugh when being tickled.

180
00:10:14,600 --> 00:10:15,960
Speaker 1: I don't know about that, because if you're in a

181
00:10:16,000 --> 00:10:18,600
Speaker 1: really bad mood and someone tries to tickle you, that's

182
00:10:18,600 --> 00:10:22,400
Speaker 1: not working. No, that's not necessarily true. If you get

183
00:10:22,600 --> 00:10:26,920
Speaker 1: a UM, if you're tickled by means of gargo Lisa's tickle,

184
00:10:27,760 --> 00:10:31,400
Speaker 1: like tickling or laughter is involuntary. If you're ticklish and

185
00:10:31,480 --> 00:10:34,120
Speaker 1: somebody gets you in the right spot, you can not

186
00:10:34,360 --> 00:10:36,120
Speaker 1: be in the right frame of mine and you'll still

187
00:10:36,160 --> 00:10:39,600
Speaker 1: like laugh and be ticklish. Yeah, no, no, no, and

188
00:10:39,600 --> 00:10:41,720
Speaker 1: then we'll think about it. If you were ticklish, Chuck,

189
00:10:42,200 --> 00:10:44,880
Speaker 1: I can suppose that. Okay, I'm sure you've seen people

190
00:10:44,920 --> 00:10:48,000
Speaker 1: being tickled before. Like if your next being tickled, your

191
00:10:48,040 --> 00:10:51,000
Speaker 1: shoulders draw up and like your hands go up and

192
00:10:51,000 --> 00:10:53,720
Speaker 1: you're you're trying to push the person off of you, right, yeah,

193
00:10:53,800 --> 00:10:56,600
Speaker 1: Or someone goes at your armpit, you you know, swat

194
00:10:56,640 --> 00:10:59,679
Speaker 1: them away with a wax off exactly. Um. Well, one

195
00:10:59,800 --> 00:11:04,520
Speaker 1: thing he goes that we um are basically taught that

196
00:11:04,640 --> 00:11:08,040
Speaker 1: these are very vulnerable places in our bodies and that

197
00:11:08,160 --> 00:11:10,400
Speaker 1: we need to protect them. Yeah, that makes sense to me,

198
00:11:11,160 --> 00:11:14,360
Speaker 1: Like the neck especially, Yeah, there's a lot of important

199
00:11:14,440 --> 00:11:16,280
Speaker 1: chunk in there. Yeah, and it's not even tickling with

200
00:11:16,280 --> 00:11:18,160
Speaker 1: the neck. If someone comes at your neck, you're just

201
00:11:18,280 --> 00:11:21,800
Speaker 1: natural responses hunch up your shoulders and like grab their

202
00:11:21,800 --> 00:11:24,240
Speaker 1: hand or something. Somebody comes at you with the judo chop.

203
00:11:26,440 --> 00:11:29,360
Speaker 1: So this goes back to when we were cave people, right,

204
00:11:29,520 --> 00:11:32,680
Speaker 1: and vulnerable spots on your body where you could bleed

205
00:11:32,720 --> 00:11:35,720
Speaker 1: out you want to protect. Now this, uh, this doesn't

206
00:11:35,760 --> 00:11:41,240
Speaker 1: necessarily go toward that explanation, but what you're talking about

207
00:11:41,280 --> 00:11:45,640
Speaker 1: being in caves. Yes, this is extremely ancient, and that

208
00:11:45,640 --> 00:11:49,520
Speaker 1: that's that's proven. We're suggested by the fact that all

209
00:11:49,559 --> 00:11:53,720
Speaker 1: great apes um laugh when they tickle when they're tickled, right,

210
00:11:53,840 --> 00:11:59,840
Speaker 1: little bona bows, and that's just that orangutange pretty much

211
00:11:59,840 --> 00:12:04,000
Speaker 1: all of like the smarty pants primates, right, have the

212
00:12:04,040 --> 00:12:06,720
Speaker 1: ability to laugh, and they laugh in different ways, but

213
00:12:06,800 --> 00:12:10,200
Speaker 1: basically what it is it's a panting sound, right, right,

214
00:12:10,920 --> 00:12:13,280
Speaker 1: So that goes to show us that you know, we

215
00:12:13,440 --> 00:12:16,319
Speaker 1: diverged from apes ten to sixteen million years ago. If

216
00:12:16,400 --> 00:12:18,680
Speaker 1: apes can laugh and we can laugh, that means we

217
00:12:18,840 --> 00:12:23,679
Speaker 1: both came. We both laughing is older than that divergence,

218
00:12:24,040 --> 00:12:27,959
Speaker 1: see what I'm saying, unless we evolved it naturally afterward,

219
00:12:28,000 --> 00:12:32,560
Speaker 1: but that's less likely I think then it occurring in

220
00:12:32,640 --> 00:12:37,120
Speaker 1: such an ancient way. It's that Also the idea that

221
00:12:37,280 --> 00:12:40,920
Speaker 1: is even older than that divergence, um shows up in

222
00:12:40,960 --> 00:12:43,959
Speaker 1: the fact that we're ats laugh when they're tickled. Yeah,

223
00:12:44,000 --> 00:12:46,360
Speaker 1: and that's so cute. Did you sell the video to

224
00:12:46,520 --> 00:12:49,800
Speaker 1: see the video they studied? Uh, sure, more than one

225
00:12:49,840 --> 00:12:54,240
Speaker 1: person has done this, but Jake pant Skep of Bowling

226
00:12:54,280 --> 00:13:01,440
Speaker 1: Green State University, that's my brother Falcons. They tickled rats

227
00:13:01,520 --> 00:13:03,320
Speaker 1: and they found out they have a little chirp that

228
00:13:03,559 --> 00:13:07,040
Speaker 1: um it's ultrasonic. Humans can't even hear it, but they,

229
00:13:07,200 --> 00:13:09,400
Speaker 1: you know, were able to record this. And not only

230
00:13:09,440 --> 00:13:12,040
Speaker 1: do they chirp when tickled, but they have a similar

231
00:13:12,040 --> 00:13:14,560
Speaker 1: reaction that you were talking about earlier, like a little kid.

232
00:13:14,960 --> 00:13:17,400
Speaker 1: Once they got used to the tickling, if you started

233
00:13:17,440 --> 00:13:20,040
Speaker 1: coming at the little rap with your little fingers, they

234
00:13:20,040 --> 00:13:22,600
Speaker 1: started chirping and wiggling around and throw themselves on their

235
00:13:22,640 --> 00:13:27,120
Speaker 1: back and in anticipation. But it's also that same study

236
00:13:27,160 --> 00:13:30,480
Speaker 1: and video suggests that it's it's play as well, because

237
00:13:30,559 --> 00:13:34,400
Speaker 1: when the person stopped um tickling, he just put his

238
00:13:34,440 --> 00:13:36,320
Speaker 1: hand in the cage and the rats would run after

239
00:13:36,360 --> 00:13:38,920
Speaker 1: it in circles. Wherever he moved his hand, they'd go

240
00:13:38,960 --> 00:13:41,520
Speaker 1: after it like they wanted to play tickle. See that's

241
00:13:41,559 --> 00:13:44,000
Speaker 1: a rat study. I can get behind tickling rats. I'll

242
00:13:44,000 --> 00:13:47,000
Speaker 1: do that all day long. Yes, So let's talk about

243
00:13:47,040 --> 00:13:50,400
Speaker 1: some of the parts of the body though, because like

244
00:13:50,440 --> 00:13:52,840
Speaker 1: the soles of the feet. Let's say, Uh, you walk

245
00:13:52,880 --> 00:13:56,720
Speaker 1: on these not exactly vulnerable, No, not vulnerable. You walk

246
00:13:56,760 --> 00:14:00,120
Speaker 1: on these heavy plotting every day. Uh. You would think

247
00:14:00,120 --> 00:14:03,480
Speaker 1: that a light tickle would tickle the feet, and they do.

248
00:14:03,840 --> 00:14:05,880
Speaker 1: But if you press a palm, like really hard against

249
00:14:05,960 --> 00:14:08,360
Speaker 1: the sol your foot, it would not tickle. That's all

250
00:14:08,400 --> 00:14:15,280
Speaker 1: true because of the Meisner's corpuscles. Corpuscles, corpuscles, they're very,

251
00:14:15,400 --> 00:14:18,080
Speaker 1: very sensitive, and I get the indication that they're more

252
00:14:18,120 --> 00:14:20,480
Speaker 1: sensitive than other areas of the body. Right, And the

253
00:14:20,880 --> 00:14:24,600
Speaker 1: soles of the feet are loaded with these things. Again,

254
00:14:24,800 --> 00:14:26,680
Speaker 1: no one has any idea why. And the fact that

255
00:14:26,800 --> 00:14:30,200
Speaker 1: the soles of your feet, which aren't very vulnerable, especially

256
00:14:30,880 --> 00:14:35,360
Speaker 1: pre shoe you know, pretty tough feet, when when there

257
00:14:35,480 --> 00:14:38,760
Speaker 1: was such a thing as shoes, right, yet the feet

258
00:14:38,800 --> 00:14:43,280
Speaker 1: were still understandably ticklish. Probably um. It kind of undermines

259
00:14:43,400 --> 00:14:47,040
Speaker 1: that idea that it's it's um socialization of the vulnerable

260
00:14:47,120 --> 00:14:50,840
Speaker 1: parts of your body. It doesn't make any sense, right,

261
00:14:51,200 --> 00:14:54,200
Speaker 1: but that is why your feet while you don't tickle,

262
00:14:54,240 --> 00:14:57,400
Speaker 1: While your feet aren't tickled whenever you walk, that pressure

263
00:14:57,480 --> 00:15:00,280
Speaker 1: is different. Whatever. It could be a much different world

264
00:15:00,440 --> 00:15:04,160
Speaker 1: everyone would have like balloons and stuff. What um. What

265
00:15:04,280 --> 00:15:06,880
Speaker 1: I couldn't figure out though, is how it's tied to laughter.

266
00:15:08,120 --> 00:15:09,760
Speaker 1: You want to know why you couldn't figure it out

267
00:15:10,160 --> 00:15:13,120
Speaker 1: because it's not proven. No one has any idea. We

268
00:15:13,280 --> 00:15:17,040
Speaker 1: just know that there it's involuntary. We know that it's

269
00:15:17,080 --> 00:15:20,800
Speaker 1: not related to mood. We know that um not a

270
00:15:20,920 --> 00:15:24,120
Speaker 1: light touch. That light touch, the nismesis can actually it

271
00:15:24,200 --> 00:15:27,000
Speaker 1: can be arousing or it can be annoying, like a

272
00:15:27,080 --> 00:15:31,120
Speaker 1: fly buzzing on you. That doesn't that doesn't cause laughter.

273
00:15:31,480 --> 00:15:33,640
Speaker 1: You see a horse or a cow like whacking flies

274
00:15:34,040 --> 00:15:36,760
Speaker 1: off of their hind d right, So that's why we

275
00:15:36,840 --> 00:15:39,960
Speaker 1: have that touch. But it can also be arousing, and

276
00:15:39,960 --> 00:15:42,880
Speaker 1: it's consider a type of tickle. It's the gargo Lisa's

277
00:15:42,920 --> 00:15:47,520
Speaker 1: tickle that's laughter inducing. But we don't understand why. Another

278
00:15:47,640 --> 00:15:53,360
Speaker 1: evolutionary biology theory is that um, it's a benign form

279
00:15:53,440 --> 00:15:56,680
Speaker 1: of human conflict, so we can get our aggressions out

280
00:15:57,200 --> 00:16:01,440
Speaker 1: without actually causing any hurt feelings and the laughter UM

281
00:16:01,720 --> 00:16:05,360
Speaker 1: shows that it's all fine and dandy and nobody's really upset.

282
00:16:05,960 --> 00:16:08,760
Speaker 1: But that's that's undermined by the idea that you can

283
00:16:08,840 --> 00:16:12,400
Speaker 1: really upset a person by tickling them for a prolonged

284
00:16:12,440 --> 00:16:15,080
Speaker 1: period past the point where they don't want to be

285
00:16:15,160 --> 00:16:18,520
Speaker 1: tickled any longer. They can be kind of upset. Yeah,

286
00:16:18,920 --> 00:16:21,120
Speaker 1: as a as a younger brother, you know this. Yeah,

287
00:16:21,200 --> 00:16:24,640
Speaker 1: Well my sister actually her husband who was the boyfriend

288
00:16:24,680 --> 00:16:26,480
Speaker 1: you know, years ago, used to tickle her like crazy,

289
00:16:27,000 --> 00:16:28,800
Speaker 1: and you know, I got out of hand, she get angry.

290
00:16:28,920 --> 00:16:34,560
Speaker 1: Tickle torture, Yeah, that's exactly what I didn't. That is

291
00:16:34,600 --> 00:16:38,720
Speaker 1: that a thing. It's the thing I looked at, tickle torture,

292
00:16:39,040 --> 00:16:42,000
Speaker 1: which I always thought was like medieval Apparently it's either

293
00:16:42,120 --> 00:16:46,400
Speaker 1: Chinese tickle torture, Indian tickle torture, some exotic land tacked

294
00:16:46,440 --> 00:16:49,880
Speaker 1: onto the front um. Apparently it may have been used

295
00:16:50,280 --> 00:16:54,520
Speaker 1: in medieval Europe as a form of torture. UM bring

296
00:16:54,680 --> 00:16:58,520
Speaker 1: up right. Nowadays it's used as a form of um

297
00:16:59,320 --> 00:17:03,200
Speaker 1: torture in a very sexual way. Um, at least as

298
00:17:03,280 --> 00:17:07,399
Speaker 1: far as Daily Motion is concerned. Um. But that that

299
00:17:07,560 --> 00:17:10,159
Speaker 1: kind of brings up something or brings us back to Darwin.

300
00:17:10,320 --> 00:17:14,000
Speaker 1: Darwin suggested that we tickle, and he probably has the

301
00:17:14,080 --> 00:17:19,240
Speaker 1: most elegantly simple explanation. We tickle because we form social bonds. Yeah,

302
00:17:19,560 --> 00:17:22,800
Speaker 1: if somebody you don't know it tickles you, that's an attack.

303
00:17:23,560 --> 00:17:26,320
Speaker 1: If somebody you do know and you feel comfortable with

304
00:17:26,400 --> 00:17:31,399
Speaker 1: tickles you, it's intimacy. Whether it's parental or sibling or

305
00:17:31,680 --> 00:17:35,400
Speaker 1: you know, the creation of or the strengthening of bonds

306
00:17:35,440 --> 00:17:40,440
Speaker 1: between like sexual partners. It's like you said, it's intimate. Interesting.

307
00:17:41,119 --> 00:17:45,640
Speaker 1: I wonder if the fact that it's uh, we retreat

308
00:17:46,119 --> 00:17:49,560
Speaker 1: or react because we're afraid of an attack, and if

309
00:17:49,760 --> 00:17:51,639
Speaker 1: if if it's the same with apes and rats, if

310
00:17:51,680 --> 00:17:54,680
Speaker 1: that holds true for them as well, Like it's in

311
00:17:54,920 --> 00:17:58,080
Speaker 1: a benign attack for them. Yeah. Well yeah, because they

312
00:17:58,119 --> 00:18:00,399
Speaker 1: were talking about the apes like playing like they do

313
00:18:00,480 --> 00:18:02,840
Speaker 1: it during play, and the rats seem to take it

314
00:18:03,200 --> 00:18:08,320
Speaker 1: as play as well. Interesting, But what that is useful

315
00:18:08,359 --> 00:18:10,399
Speaker 1: for we don't really know, or maybe we do know

316
00:18:10,520 --> 00:18:12,479
Speaker 1: we're looking too deeply into it. We should do one

317
00:18:12,520 --> 00:18:16,280
Speaker 1: on laughter period. Yes, I agreed, All right, let's do one.

318
00:18:16,480 --> 00:18:19,280
Speaker 1: Be a good one. Um. I guess the answer to

319
00:18:19,320 --> 00:18:22,320
Speaker 1: the question, then, Chuck, is we don't know why people

320
00:18:22,440 --> 00:18:25,720
Speaker 1: laugh when tickled. That's disappointing. It's a little disappointing. But

321
00:18:25,840 --> 00:18:27,520
Speaker 1: we'll come back to it when we be figured out.

322
00:18:27,560 --> 00:18:31,359
Speaker 1: Well maybe we will one day. Okay, So if you

323
00:18:31,440 --> 00:18:33,560
Speaker 1: want to learn more about how we don't have any

324
00:18:34,440 --> 00:18:37,520
Speaker 1: idea why we laugh when we tickle, you can read

325
00:18:37,640 --> 00:18:41,640
Speaker 1: this really kind of bad article I wrote um years back,

326
00:18:42,000 --> 00:18:44,360
Speaker 1: and you can read it by a writing in laugh

327
00:18:44,520 --> 00:18:47,120
Speaker 1: and tickle in the search bar at how stuff works

328
00:18:47,160 --> 00:18:50,400
Speaker 1: dot com, which will bring up that article, and which

329
00:18:50,520 --> 00:18:56,480
Speaker 1: brings up listener mail Josh. I'm gonna call this, uh

330
00:18:57,440 --> 00:19:00,200
Speaker 1: kind of a mean thing to do, but we're the

331
00:19:00,280 --> 00:19:05,520
Speaker 1: funny as well a munch Housen's um email. Uh. Now,

332
00:19:05,760 --> 00:19:07,840
Speaker 1: how to Control a riot? This is from Eric with

333
00:19:07,920 --> 00:19:11,359
Speaker 1: the k Hey guys, hello stuff. You should know staff

334
00:19:12,080 --> 00:19:14,920
Speaker 1: like we have a staff. It's me, you and Jerry,

335
00:19:15,000 --> 00:19:18,720
Speaker 1: that's staff. I listened to how to Control a Riot

336
00:19:18,880 --> 00:19:21,360
Speaker 1: and you spoke of mob mentality. It brought to mind

337
00:19:21,359 --> 00:19:24,000
Speaker 1: a game that my friends and I used to play

338
00:19:24,040 --> 00:19:27,399
Speaker 1: when I was in the Disney College program. So that

339
00:19:27,520 --> 00:19:29,760
Speaker 1: was pretty good. If we were sitting around the apartment

340
00:19:29,800 --> 00:19:32,000
Speaker 1: with nothing to do for the day, um, a group

341
00:19:32,080 --> 00:19:34,680
Speaker 1: of friends would go into a Disney park until it

342
00:19:34,800 --> 00:19:37,600
Speaker 1: was time to drink, so I guess you had pretty

343
00:19:37,640 --> 00:19:40,040
Speaker 1: much free access to the Disney Park if you win

344
00:19:40,080 --> 00:19:42,920
Speaker 1: this college program. We would get ten or more people

345
00:19:43,320 --> 00:19:45,680
Speaker 1: together and stand in a line. The line would be

346
00:19:45,680 --> 00:19:47,760
Speaker 1: in front of a wall or a fence, away from

347
00:19:47,800 --> 00:19:50,400
Speaker 1: any entrance or exit. It is really funny to see

348
00:19:50,480 --> 00:19:52,440
Speaker 1: more and more people get in line behind the group

349
00:19:52,800 --> 00:19:55,680
Speaker 1: of friends. The best part is when at the same

350
00:19:55,800 --> 00:19:58,879
Speaker 1: time the group just disperses at the same time, like

351
00:19:58,960 --> 00:20:02,080
Speaker 1: the original people would just leave, and all of a sudden,

352
00:20:02,119 --> 00:20:04,080
Speaker 1: there's people standing in line. We're like, why are we

353
00:20:04,119 --> 00:20:06,800
Speaker 1: standing by a wall? What was this here? Form? The

354
00:20:06,800 --> 00:20:09,040
Speaker 1: buffudded look on their faces would really crack us up.

355
00:20:09,400 --> 00:20:11,400
Speaker 1: I admit this is not the nicest thing in the world,

356
00:20:11,480 --> 00:20:15,040
Speaker 1: wasting part of people's day at Disney, and I still

357
00:20:15,080 --> 00:20:16,800
Speaker 1: get a chuckle though when I think of it. It's

358
00:20:16,840 --> 00:20:19,280
Speaker 1: funny to me. Now you just go with the flow.

359
00:20:19,880 --> 00:20:21,800
Speaker 1: I grouped this in with face the wrong way and

360
00:20:22,000 --> 00:20:26,720
Speaker 1: an elevators something he does. It's very off putting. I

361
00:20:26,920 --> 00:20:29,080
Speaker 1: just oh yeah, I do it all the time, but

362
00:20:29,160 --> 00:20:30,720
Speaker 1: I don't do it to annoy people. I do because

363
00:20:30,720 --> 00:20:33,680
Speaker 1: I'm like talking to people. Oh well yeah sure, but yeah,

364
00:20:33,720 --> 00:20:36,440
Speaker 1: I know. I don't just stand there with strangers usually,

365
00:20:36,480 --> 00:20:39,040
Speaker 1: I knee can't people who do that. You guys are

366
00:20:39,040 --> 00:20:41,159
Speaker 1: the greatest. Is Eric with a k? All right, well

367
00:20:41,160 --> 00:20:44,119
Speaker 1: thanks a lot, Eric for with the k. Look for

368
00:20:44,240 --> 00:20:46,920
Speaker 1: your kneecapping if we're ever in an elevator together, or

369
00:20:46,960 --> 00:20:49,879
Speaker 1: if you're standing by a wall from coming after you, buddy. Yes. Uh.

370
00:20:50,000 --> 00:20:53,800
Speaker 1: If you have any stories about Disney, we want to

371
00:20:53,920 --> 00:21:00,479
Speaker 1: hear about them, especially the gnarly uh seedy underbelly Disney,

372
00:21:01,240 --> 00:21:03,960
Speaker 1: like it's Disney jail. Yeah and I heard it. There's

373
00:21:04,000 --> 00:21:07,800
Speaker 1: just a whole underground under the entire park. That's the

374
00:21:07,880 --> 00:21:11,359
Speaker 1: rumored with mutants. Yeah. Uh, Well, we want to hear

375
00:21:11,359 --> 00:21:14,120
Speaker 1: your Disney stories. Please don't send us any heartwarming, heart

376
00:21:14,160 --> 00:21:17,280
Speaker 1: felt ones that we can just find those anywhere. Send

377
00:21:17,359 --> 00:21:20,000
Speaker 1: us your CD Disney stores and an email to Stuff

378
00:21:20,119 --> 00:21:27,840
Speaker 1: Podcast at how Stuff works dot com for more on

379
00:21:27,960 --> 00:21:30,280
Speaker 1: this and thousands of other topics. Is It how stuff

380
00:21:30,320 --> 00:21:33,120
Speaker 1: works dot com. To learn more about the podcast, click

381
00:21:33,160 --> 00:21:35,480
Speaker 1: on the podcast icon in the upper right corner of

382
00:21:35,520 --> 00:21:38,840
Speaker 1: our homepage. The How Stuff Works iPhone app has a arrive.

383
00:21:39,119 --> 00:21:44,639
Speaker 1: Download it today on iTunes. Brought to you by the

384
00:21:44,720 --> 00:21:47,920
Speaker 1: reinvented two thousand twelve camera. It's ready, are you