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A ticklish situation

Try tickling yourself. Not much happens, right? You might think you would feel the same sensation as if someone else was tickling you.

Not so. Scientists don’t know why we can’t tickle ourselves. Some suspect that the element of surprise has a lot to do with it. When we tickle ourselves, we have lost the surprise. Our brain — specifically the cerebellum — knows what is happening and that there’s no reason to laugh.

SOURCE: TIME Book of Why