Why Are We Ticklish The Scientific Explanation

The phenomenon of ticklishness has puzzled scientists and philosophers for decades. From social bonding to survival, researchers have offered a wide range of theories to explain this peculiar bodily quirk. Opposing Theories Charles Darwin  argued that the mechanism behind ticklishness is similar to the way we laugh in response to a funny joke. In both cases, he contended, one must be â€Å"light† state of mind in order to respond with laughter. Sir Francis Bacon made an opposing claim when he said on the subject of tickling,  Ã¢â‚¬Å"...[W]e see that men even in a grieved state of mind, yet cannot sometimes forbear laughing. The opposing theories of Darwin and Bacon reflect some of the contemporary conflicts that exist in research on tickling today. Tickling as Social Bonding Tickling may function as a form of social bonding, especially for a parent and child. University of Maryland neuroscientist Robert Provine, who considers ticklishness to be â€Å"one of the broadest and deepest subjects in science,†Ã‚  says that the laughter response to being tickled is activated within the first few months of life and that tickling as a form of play helps newborns connect with parents.   Its also possible that the horseplay and other games involving tickling help us hone our ability to defend ourselves — a kind of casual combat training. This view is supported by the fact that the regions of the body that happen to be most ticklish, such as the armpits, ribs, and inner thighs, are also areas that are particularly vulnerable to attack. Tickling as a Reflex Research into the physical response to tickling has led to conclusions that conflict with the social bonding hypothesis. The social bonding hypothesis really starts to fall apart when one considers those who find the experience of being tickled unpleasant. A study conducted by psychologists at the University of California in San Diego found that subjects can experience an equal degree of ticklishness regardless of whether they believe they are being tickled by a machine or a human. From these findings,  the authors drew the conclusion that being ticklish is more likely a reflex than anything else. If ticklishness is  a reflex, why can’t we tickle ourselves? Even Aristotle asked himself this question. Neuroscientists at  University College London used brain mapping  to study the impossibility of self-tickling. They determined that the region of the brain responsible for coordinating movements, known as the cerebellum, can read your intentions and even predict exactly where on the body an attempt to self-tickle will occur. This mental process prevents out the intended tickle effect. Types of Ticklishness Just as there is wide variation to where and the degree in which a person is ticklish, there are more than one type of tickle. Knismesis is the light, gentle tickling felt when someone runs a feather across the surface of the skin. It does not typically induce laughter and can be described as irritating and slightly itchy. Conversely, gargalesis is a more intense sensation triggered by aggressive tickling and usually provokes audible laughter and squirming. Gargalesis is the type of tickling used for play and other social interactions. Scientists speculate  that each type of tickle produces markedly different sensations because the signals are sent through separate nerve pathways. Ticklish Animals Humans are not the only animals with a tickle response. Experiments in rats  have shown that tickling rodents can trigger inaudible vocalizations that are akin to laughter. A closer measurement of their brain activity using electrodes even revealed where the rats are most ticklish: along the belly and the bottoms of the feet. However, the researchers found that the rats who were put in a stressful situation did not have the same response to being tickled, which suggests that Darwins light state of mind theory might not be totally off base. For the human population, the explanation for the tickle response remains elusive, tickling away at our curiosity.  Ã‚   Key Takeaways The phenomenon of ticklishness has not yet been conclusively explained. Multiple theories to explain the phenomenon exist, and research is ongoing.The social bonding theory suggests the tickle response developed to facilitate social bonding between parents and newborns. A similar theory posits that ticklishness is a self-defense instinct.The reflex theory states that the tickle response is a reflex that is not affected by identity of the tickler.There are two different types of tickle sensations: knismesis and gargalesis.  Other animals experience the tickle response, too. Scientists have found that rats emit an inaudible vocalization akin to laughter when they are tickled. Sources Bacon, Francis, and Basil Montagu.  The Works Of Francis Bacon, Lord Chancellor Of England. Murphy, 1887. Harris, Christine R., and Nicholas Christenfeld. Humour, Tickle, And The Darwin-Hecker Hypothesis.  Cognition Emotion, vol 11, no. 1, 1997, pp. 103-110. Harris, Christine. The Mystery Of Ticklish Laughter.  American Scientist, vol 87, no. 4, 1999, p. 344. Holmes, Bob.  Science: It’S The Tickle Not The Tickler.  New Scientist, 1997, https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg15320712-300-science-its-the-tickle-not-the-tickler/. Osterath,  Brigitte.  Playful rats reveal brain region that drives ticklishness.  Nature News, 2016. ​Provine, Robert R. Laughing, Tickling, And The Evolution Of Speech And Self.  Current Directions In Psychological Science, vol 13, no. 6, 2004, pp. 215-218.

The Effects Of Diabetes On Body Uses Blood Sugar Essay

Diabetes mellitus is refered to a group of diseases that affect how your body uses blood sugar (glucose). Glucose is vital to your health because it is an important source of energy for the cells that make up your muscles and tissues. Having diabetes, it does not matter the type, means there is an excessive amount of glucose in the blood, although the causes may differ, high levels of glucose can lead to serious health problems. The actual term diabetes is that the body is unable to produce any or enough insulin, which causes elevated levels of glucose in the blood. This occurs in both type 1 and type 2 diabetes, which are both similar the structure of the autoimmune disease but differ from each other in that type 1 is an acute dysfunction of the pancreas usually occurring at a young age, and type 2 is progressive due to increasing inability of cells to respond to insulin, usually due to life style. Type 1 diabetes is usually diagnosed in children and young adults, and was previously known as juvenile diabetes. Only 5% of people with diabetes have this form of the disease. In type 1 diabetes, the body does not produce insulin. Insulin is a hormone that is needed to convert sugar, starches and other food into energy needed for daily life. The pathophysiology of type 1 diabetes begins with production of antibodies which leads to the death of beta cells then a decline in insulin secretion. Type 1 diabetes occurs as a result of the body s immune system attacking theShow MoreRelatedEssay On Blood Drugs1658 Words   |  7 PagesHow is blood sugar controlled with medicine There are several types of medicines to treat diabetes. The following is a list including a short description. Sulfonylureas: Treatment for type 2 diabetes in people with beta cells that still are producing insulin. Beta cells reside in the pancreas, their function is the storing and release of insulin. 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Female Athletes And Male Athletes - 1390 Words

It’s pretty clear that in today’s society males are the dominate figure in sports. Unlike female athletes, men receive a tremendous amount of media attention than female athletes. Young boys grow up watching television bombarded with heroic images of male athletes. They have something to look up to, while young girls do not receive the same images. Male and female athletes have many equal opportunities when it comes to playing and succeeding in sports. Yet it seems that male sports happen to catch more of the limelight when it comes to the media and the publicity they receive for the athletics performances. Women have been fighting this battle against the media for many years now. The problem is that women athletes are portrayed as sex symbols and are not taken seriously as athletes. Female athletes make up 40 percent of sports participants nationally, but only received 8 percent of the entire sports coverage. With that being said, this literature review examines how th e sports portray the female athlete compared to how the media represents them. Since the 20th century, female athletes have made enormous strides to improve their status. Prior to these efforts and achievements, female athletes had to play in much poorer facilities under different rules and with stricter dress codes than male athletes. Society also ignored and discriminated against female athletes. This discrimination portrayed them as masculine rather than feminine due to the sport they play and the picturesShow MoreRelatedFemale Athletes And Male Athletes1741 Words   |  7 Pagesmay be the case, there is no doubt that female athletes are far from considered equal as compared to male athletes in modern sports. In today’s sports society, women athletes are still discriminated against based on lower salaries, less media coverage, and lack of opportunity. 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A Critique Of Philosophical Approaches To Criminal Justice Reform Essay Example For Students

A Critique Of Philosophical Approaches To Criminal Justice Reform Essay People are arrested every day in the United States. They are put on probation or sent to jail, and sometimes they are let out on parole; there are millions of people affected. In 1995 alone there were over five million people under some form of correctional supervision, and the number is steadily increasing. The incarceration rate is skyrocketing: the number of prison inmates per 100,000 people has risen from 139 in 1980 to 411 in 1995. This is an immense financial burden on the country. Federal expenditure for correctional institutions alone increased 248% from 1982 to 1992. Obviously something has to be changed in the justice system. If the crime rate is rising this much, the correctional justice system isnt functioning properly, and needs to be reformed. Many people have offered theories as to what should be done with the prison system, the extremes being retributivism and the therapeutic model, but what they all seem to have overlooked is that there is no single system that works for everyone. Blanket generalizations as to the nature of the criminal mind cannot be made. Every criminal is different, with different motivations and different psychological characteristics so that different things are required to make them repent or deter them from further criminal activity, and I believe that the solutions offered are not enough to lower the crime rate and prison population. Something needs to be done on a more fundamental level so that fewer people turn to crime in the first place, thereby providing the prison system with the freedom to improve the attention it gives to the people that do become criminals; my solution is a combination of economic reform and educational opportunity that would give people less reason to commit crimes. The extreme right reform proposition, retributivism, is flawed mainly because it seems to assume that showing people that what theyve done is wrong will always accomplish something, and that every prisoner can be shown that his crime was a moral wrong. This is not the case for many prisoners. There are people who steal and sell drugs simply because they have no other means of survival. There are people whose lives in the outside world are so terribly difficult that for them, prison life is a cushier existence than their ordinary day-to-day existence, and many of these people intentionally commit crimes so they will be arrested and thrown in jail, simply so that they can get a decent meal and a bed. For these people, even if they feel that their criminal existence is indeed a moral wrong, prison does nothing to make them repent or change their way of life. They have no choice but to steal or to sell drugs, because they have to make a living somehow, and if this is the only way they ca n do it then prison time will not change the way they see things. Also, there are criminals who either do not see or do not believe that what they are doing is a moral wrong, and no amount of punishment can convince them that they shouldnt have done what they did. If they reject the categorical imperative, no punishment can change their minds; prison time is then a waste for them as well. They committed their crimes without fear of punishment, and they will continue to commit crimes after they are released, and they dont feel any remorse. What then is the point in putting these people in jail? They are simply taking up space. Something else must be done to keep these types of people from committing criminal acts. The extreme left proposition, or therapeutic model, is also flawed. Believing that criminal behavior is a psychological disorder that can be treated through therapy may be true in some cases, but certainly it cannot be proven to hold true for all. The same group of people I mentioned before is an exception to the therapeutic rule: people whose lives depend on drug sales and theft will not be changed by psychological treatment. They simply do what they have to do, and after they are released from therapy, they will go back to stealing, because they have no other way to earn a living. Then there are people who cannot be cured by any amount of psychological therapy. They will sit through the counseling sessions, perhaps play along with the therapists games, but once released, they will r?sum? their criminal habits. And even among those who can be positively affected by psychological treatments, there are so many different psychological disorders and personal idiosyncrasies that no singl e treatment plan can cure all of them. Another argument against the therapeutic model of criminal justice is this: people pay thousands of dollars a year to see psychiatrists, completely of their own accord. If people are willing to pay for this, why should they avoid committing a crime, if the only punishment they are likely to receive is psychological treatment? The therapeutic model is not only a poor deterrent, it has the potential to increase the crime rate. Psychiatric treatment is expensive. If one could obtain counseling for free simply by getting oneself thrown in jail, I think that many people would do so without hesitation. People who would otherwise commit no crimes could very well choose to do something they wouldnt otherwise think of. Obviously the therapeutic model is no solution. Other people propose a solution combining the retributive and therapeutic models of justice, which is more of a utilitarian view. They would have criminals sent to jail for their crimes, and given psychological counseling while incarcerated. This is a nice idea in theory, and the most reasonable proposition in my opinion, but the simple fact is that prisons are too overcrowded to give each prisoner the treatment he deserves. There are too many prisoners and not enough money. As a blanket solution to the problem of criminal justice reform, I agree that the utilitarian view of prisons is the most desirable policy, and that our justice system as it is now leaves a lot to be desired, but I believe that the greatest concern is not how to change criminals once theyve already been arrested, but how to prevent them from becoming criminals in the first place. My proposition is for society, as well as the government, to turn its attention away from prison reform and focus instead on the issues that lead people to adopt a criminal lifestyle. There are distinct environmental factors that are correlated with criminal behavior. In 1991 a third of all inmates in state prisons had bee n unemployed prior to their arrest, and of those who had held jobs, one fourth had only part-time jobs. In local jails 36% had been unemployed, 20% looking unsuccessfully for a job and 16% not even trying. Many of these inmates are uneducated as well: only 59% of state prison inmates had a high school diploma or its equivalent, and in local jails, this percentage dropped to a mere 54% of inmates. Two thirds of prisoners rank in the bottom two of five levels used to score the National Adult Literacy Test, compared to less than half of non-incarcerated adults; inmates are, more often than average non-incarcerated adults, less educated than their parents, and the parents of inmates are generally less educated than the parents of non-incarcerated adults in the same age range. These statistics cannot be chalked up to coincidence alone. Obviously theres a connection between education and employment opportunities and criminality. Uneducated people, and those who cannot find a job for whate ver reason, seem to be far more likely to turn to a criminal lifestyle than those with an education and a job. What I think is then the solution to the problem of skyrocketing crime rates and prison populations is increased attention to education and economic equality. Investment in Russia EssayPhilosophy