Just before we make a movement, a signal is sent to the brain telling it what to expect. If the movement is anticipated, the brain filters it out, de-sensitizing us to the signal. That's why we can't tickle ourselves. Sarah-Jayne Blakemore, from University College London, placed volunteers in a brain scan. They attempted to stimulate themselves with a plastic tickling device, but it had no effect. They only felt anything when Ms Blakemore did the tickling. The scans showed that feeling tickled coincided with activity in the somata sensory cortex area of the brain, which perceives touch, and the anterior cingulate, which acts as a pleasure centre. But when volunteers tried to tickle themselves, another brain area, the cerebellum, switched in to dampen down the experience. The cerebellum told the other brain areas to "stand down" because the sensation was self-induced.

I can.

Most of us have a ticklish spot somewhere on our bodies, and it is usually pretty easy to find. For some it's just above the knee, for others it's the back of the neck, and some of us go into fits of laughter if someone grabs our sides. Laughing when another person tickles you is a natural reaction. Scientists have discovered that the feeling experienced when we are tickled causes us to panic and is a natural defense to little creepy crawlers like spiders and bugs. Slight tickles from insects can send a chill through your body letting you know something is crawling on you. That same ticklish feeling sends us into a state of panic and elicits a response of uncontrollable laughter if a person tickles us. It's the moment that you least expect to be tickled and are that causes you to feel extremely uneasy and panicked, which leads to the most intense ticklish feeling. Even if you do know that you are about to be tickled, the fear and unease of someone touching and possibly hurting you causes you to laugh. Some people are so ticklish that they begin laughing even before they are touched. So, if someone else's touch can tickle us, why can't we tickle ourselves? Much of the explanation for this question is still unknown, but research has shown that the brain is trained to know what to feel when a person moves or performs any function. We aren't aware of a lot of the sensations generated by our movements. For example, you probably don't pay much attention to your vocal cords when you speak. For the same reason, we can't tickle ourselves. If we grab our sides in an attempt to tickle ourselves, our brain anticipates this contact from the hands and prepares itself for it. By taking away the feeling of unease and panic, the body no longer responds the same as it would if someone else were to tickle us. Brain scientists at the University College London have pinpointed the cerebellum as the part of the brain that prevents us from self-tickling. The cerebellum is the region located at the base of the brain that monitors our movements. It can distinguish expected sensations from unexpected sensations. An expected sensation would be the amount of pressure your fingers apply to your keyboard while typing. An unexpected sensation would be someone sneaking up behind you and tapping you on the shoulder. While the brain discards the sensation of typing, it pays a lot of attention to someone tapping on your shoulder. The difference in reactions from expected to unexpected is a built-in response that probably developed in early human history to detect predators. Although we are not able to tickle ourselves unassisted, there is a way to trick the brain by using a robot tickler. That's right. With all of the know-how of science and technology, a robot has been designed to allow people to tickle themselves. The same British scientists mentioned above have designed a machine that enables you to tickle yourself by remote control. To use the machine, a person lies on their back with their eyes shut. The robot is located near the person with a piece of soft foam attached to a plastic rod that is controlled by a remote control joystick. When the person activates the rod, the robot will react after a short delay. Even with delays as short as a fifth of a second from the time the person activates the rod until the robot tickled the person's hand, subjects have described the sensation as the same as another person tickling them. So, in a sense, you could tickle yourself with a robotic assistant. How Stuff Works - http://www.howstuffworks.com/question511.htm

We anticipate on every move we make, so they don't come as a surprise. However, we can't anticipate on every tiny move a stranger makes.

Most people CAN tickle themselves. Try rubbing the roof of your mouth either with the tip of your tongue or with a moistened finger. Tickles like hell! It is difficult to tickle yourself elsewhere, because the tickle response is dependant upon an element of surprise that is not present when you try and tickle yourself. Per Wikipedia: A recent analysis of the “self-tickle” response has been address using MRI technology. Blakemore and colleagues have investigated how the brain distinguishes between sensations we create for ourselves and sensations others create for us. When the subjects used a joystick to control a "tickling robot", they could not make themselves laugh. This suggested that when a person tries to tickle him- or herself, the cerebellum sends to the somatosensory cortex precise information on the position of the tickling target and therefore what sensation to expect. Apparently an unknown cortical mechanism then decreases or inhibits the tickling sensation.[19] A small percentage of people however, have found it possible to tickle themselves.

I never thought about that. Personally, I don't like being tickled, it makes me lose control of my bladder and tinkle.

im not tickleish - it just hurts

because half of the experience is the anticipation, you lose that if you know when you are going to do it, also, because you're in control, your muscles don't tense therefore the experience isnt the same as when someone else tickles you, you tense up against it and you dont tickle yourself painfully because you dont want to hurt yourself

ive tries so many times!! gosh! its impossible! lol

No. I don't know why. I think it's because of the nervous system, that doesn't recieve the action and wouldn't respon because you know you want to tickle yourself. Its impossible for me. Except for the feather trick on your foot.

I never tried to.

There's been scientific studies and experiments done that show that you pretty much can't. Also, being tickled by something that's not human (like a tickle machine or something) doesn't do the same thing as being tickled by human touch.

no, i don't think you can, because you know that you will and it becomes not funny...

I tried out of sheer boredom..nothing

no..tha..tha..thats not possible.impossible.cant be done.nope

Although it is very difficult to tickle yourself in a conventional manner, it is possible to tickle yourself. Studies have shown that the sensations that we get from being tickled include some element of surprise. It is hard to surprise yourself with a tickle. That also includes using a mechanical device that tickles you if you are the one activating it. However, if you really feel the need to tickle yourself, try the roof of your mouth. Most people can successfully tickle themselves there.

i can make myself laugh if that's what you mean

No. I tried just now.

Actually, people who play stringed instruments are the only people who can tickle themselves. This occurs due to the callouses that accumulate on the fingertip which deaden sensation to the fingertips...a key factor that HINDERS others from tickling themselves. Fingertips have an extremely high density of nerve endings. The reason a normal person can't tickle him/herself is because they have two sources of stimuli simultaneously competing with each other (the fingertips and the tickle target spot) in the somatosensory cortex in the brain. This in effect "short circuits" the tickle response for most individuals. It would be possible to tickle yourself with a part of the body that doesn't have many nerve endings such as the sacral region of the back. Theoretically it would work but I just don't see a part of your back touching a ticklish spot such as the stomach or armpit.

i cant because no one can unless they have a nervous system disorder or something.

I get really tickled with myself when I tell a silly joke or get mixed up with my own words.

Amuse myself? Sometimes. Tickle myself? Nope.

I can't

not in the usual way. but i can laugh at my-self.

Because you are expecting the sensation and therefore it is not a surprise. However, you can tickle yourself on the top of your mouth. Just lightly rub your tongue on the top, or even if you wish, your finger.

I can tickle myself if I do it lightly.

Its the power of suggestion. your brain, in advance, knows what to expect. Someone else, by surprise, tickles you and your brain goes into a defensive/ticklish mode. Did i say this right?

These are one of several stimuli brain has programmed to ignore list. Also there is not element of surprise in it. You KNOW that you are tickling yourself and you can stop anytime. However, if you can do it very fast, before your brain can register it and move and your fingers away, probably you could. That would be by nearly the speed of light.

Because you are doing it to yourselve, your brain expects it and is ready for it. Our minds have a preticto for when we are coing to touch ourselves (e.g. when arms brush sides or legs rub together) and automatically flag souch touches as unimportant. If it did not, we would constantly be bein surprised by routine toiches of self agains self. But if scientists put in a delay, so that robot fingers twitch a second or so after your fingers twitch, after a certain critical delay it starts being ticklish because your body is no longer predicting correctly what is going to happen, so the touch becomes surprising again,

I think its because you are expecting it... When someone else tickles you, you never know where it will be so that adds to the ticklishness!

most people are unable to tickle themselves. Our sense of being tickled is a reaction to being touched in sensitive areas in a way we can not control. When you touch yourself, you expect it and you subconciously control the pressure of your touch so that you aren't tickling yourself.

Actually, I don't have to. I'm fortunate enough to have two little nieces who thrive on tickling my bare feet until I'm hysterical. I always make sure that my feet are bare when they are around! :)

Charles Darwin argued that our wriggling and squirming response to tickling is a part of the natural reflex that helps us escape from attackers when they’ve grabbed vulnerable parts of our body. As such it is impossible to tickle ourselves because we know what we are going to do and where, which hardly constitutes a threat.

I can. I love tickling myself. I have to be very relaxed with my eyes closed, but it works.