Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 15, 2025
05:37
Tickling, a Technique for Inducing Positive Affect When Handling Rats
Published on: May 8, 2018
39.6K
Tickle contagion in the rat somatosensory cortex
Lena V Kaufmann1,2, Michael Brecht1,3, Shimpei Ishiyama1,4
1Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience Berlin, Institut für Biologie, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Philippstraße 13, Haus 6, 10115 Berlin, Germany.
Iscience
|December 29, 2022
Summary
Rats exhibit contagious "joy jumps" and vocalizations when witnessing tickling, suggesting the trunk somatosensory cortex may be involved in ticklishness contagion.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Animal Behavior
Background:
- Emotional contagion mechanisms remain largely unknown.
- Tickling is a unique social interaction with potential links to emotional contagion.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the neuronal basis of tickle contagion in rats.
- To explore the role of the trunk somatosensory cortex in social tickling responses.
Main Methods:
- Recorded trunk somatosensory cortex activity in observer rats.
- Compared responses to direct tickling, audiovisual playback, and witnessing demonstrator rats being tickled.
Main Results:
- Observer rats showed "joy jumps" and vocalizations when witnessing live tickling, but not with playback.
- Deep trunk somatosensory neurons showed stronger correlations between direct and witnessed tickling.
- Somatosensory neurons fired upon own and demonstrator vocalizations, potentially driving contagious laughter.
Conclusions:
- The trunk somatosensory cortex may play a crucial role in ticklishness contagion.
- Neuronal activity in this region might underlie the transmission of positive social emotions.
Keywords:
Sensory neuroscience
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