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The Funny Bone: Butt Dialing Your Brain
Learn the basics of how neurons fire, and explore what we can learn from the feeling of banging our funny bone.
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Your selections:
Touch
Why Can't You Tickle Yourself?
Your brain anticipates your touch, effectively canceling out your own tickle.
BrainFacts/SfN
Featured Findings From Neuroscience 2021
Check out the breaking neuroscience news from the Society for Neuroscience’s 2021 annual meeting.
BrainFacts/SfN
The Neurons Responsible for Making a Touch Feel Pleasant
Mice born without this small group of neurons don’t find touch rewarding and become more sensitive to the negative effects of stress.
BrainFacts/SfN
What Happens in the Brain During ASMR?
Soft sounds and gentle touches can trigger so-called “brain tingles.” Here’s why.
BrainFacts/SfN
Unraveling the Mysteries of Tickling
Scientist Konstantina Kilteni explains the ins and outs of tickling, discusses the evolutionary purpose behind the sensation, and reveals why we can’t tickle ourselves.
BrainFacts/SfN
Point to Finger Illusion
Try this simple neuroscience trick at home — all you need is a willing participant!
BrainFacts/SfN
Tickling Trick
Why can’t you tickle yourself? Find out here!
BrainFacts/SfN
ICYMI: Rolling in Horse Poop May Help Giant Pandas Stay Warm
And other neuroscience news for the week of December 7, 2020.
BrainFacts/SfN
ICYMI: How Octopuses Taste Through Touch
And other neuroscience news for the week of October 26, 2020.
BrainFacts/SfN
How Do We Sense Temperature and Pressure?
David Julius and Ardem Patapoutian just won the 2021 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their research on the receptors that sense touch and temperature. We spoke with them about their work in 2020.
BrainFacts/SfN
Touch
Special receptors under your skin create the feelings of itch, touch, temperature, and pain.
BrainFacts/SfN
Molyneux's Problem: Blind Philosophy
If you were blind since birth and learned how to identify objects by your sense of touch, could you distinguish those objects by sight alone if your vision was suddenly restored?
BrainFacts/SfN
18 min
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