It is almost impossible to tickle yourself because touch needs to be unexpected to tickle.

Two different types of tickle touch generate either laughter or irritation.

A better understanding of tickle perception will help in the development of effective touch therapy.

Are you ticklish? Not everyone is. Children tend to be more ticklish than adults, and factors like mood, thickness of the skin, or physical health can affect how likely you are to find a particular touch enjoyable or just plain annoying (Kilteni, 2025). However, despite the fact that philosophers from Socrates to Aristotle and scientists from Galileo to Darwin have studied ticklishness for centuries, there is still no clear consensus on what it means to be tickled.

The word “tickle” itself probably comes from a Middle English word “tikelen” meaning "touch with repeated light touches in some sensitive part so as to stimulate pleasurably or cause a peculiar and uneasy or thrilling sensation in the nerves" (Harper, n.d.). Notice that there are two kinds of outcomes possible when we are tickled—laughter or discomfort. These two outcomes suggest not all tickles are the same, and indeed, two kinds of tickle are described in the literature. The tickling we engage in with children or loved ones, where the aim is to produce laughter, is called “gargalesis” (from the Greek for to tickle) and is one of the earliest triggers for laughter in infants. We use gargalesis to provoke laughter in social bonding with other humans (Kilteni, 2025).

The second kind of tickle, which leads to annoyance or discomfort, is called “knismesis” (from the Greek for to itch). Gargalesis and knismesis are produced by two distinct types of touch. Knismesis is produced by feather-light touches, on almost any body part........

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