Light touch stimulates the somatosensory cortex which is responsible for analyzing touch, and the anterior cingulate cortex which deals with pleasant feelings. Together these two ares of the brain govern tickling, but only when it is a light touch. As most people already know if tickling is too hard it gets painful![3] X Research source You could also try brushing the soles of your feet with a bristly hairbrush. You can make a tickling device by taking a stick and gluing long feathers onto it. You can then use this device to tickle yourself. If you use too much pressure, it won’t work. Make sure you’re using the object very lightly.
The best places for this are the inside of your elbow, your neck, or the back of your knee.
However, often people with schizophrenia can tickle themselves, possibly because their brains have difficulty predicting the sensory actions of their own movements.
This is wrong because it isn’t the sensation, it’s the brain already knowing what is about to happen. Tickling has to do with surprise and we can’t surprise our own brains.
