Tickle turn-ons: New study shows how men and women's feet respond differently
Watch: Foot tickling machine reveals which parts of the feet make men and women giggle most
Are you a fan of foot tickles or are your toes a no-go zone? Well, it seems women are more sensitive than men when it comes to having their feet teased, according to a new study.
While women squirm most when tickled in the centre of the arch, men find near the toes the most ticklish, researchers from the University of Auckland discovered, thanks to their new TickleFoot device.
While there's already evidence to suggest tickling and laughter can significantly relieve stress, there is limited knowledge on whether tickling machines can evoke laughter, and how tickling can affect men and women differently.
So, determined to find out the answer, researchers developed a battery-operated foot-tickling device, with small in-built brushes that touch different parts of the foot.
"We first developed an actuator that can create tickling sensations along the sole of the foot utilising magnet-driven brushes," explain the researchers, led by Don Samitha Elvitigala, as published in ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction.
"Then, we conducted two studies to identify the most ticklish locations of the foot's sole and stimulation patterns that can evoke laughter."
Read more: Why it's impossible to tickle yourself
Thirteen participants, including seven women and six men, first tested the effect of the magnet-driven brushes, rating the level of ticklishness they felt as the brush moved to different areas of their foot, across a seven-point scale.
Women gave an average score of 5.57, while men gave an average score of 3.83, the results reveal. Women scored highest for ticklishness at the centre of the arch, while men were most likely to laugh around the toes.
Read more: Could ear 'tickle' therapy help slow the ageing process?
Researchers then used the data to develop a 3D-printed, flexible insole with three different tickling functions that can be inserted into any shoe and tickle the user on demand.
"We embedded our actuators into a flexible insole, demonstrating the potential of a wearable tickling insole," the study details. It's thought it could be used as a stress reliever by inducing uncontrolled laughter.
Read more: Russell Brand calls for tickling children to be banned: 'Would you do it to an adult?'
Marlies Oostland from University College London, who has previously studied how rats respond to tickling, discovering they need to be in a positive state of mind for it to induce laughter, showed her support of the study. "I think it's incredibly useful to do research like this," she told the New Scientist, explaining she thinks it will help us learn more about how the brain works, in particular predictive coding.
Predictive coding is a process where the brain is able to spot surprises. Oostland says a natural way to study this process is through things like tickling, "because this is one of the very unusual behaviours where we actively seek out surprising events", rather than minimise them in an effort to protect ourselves.
Previous research has suggested other ways to gain benefits from tickling. In 2019, a study by the University of Leeds even suggested ear tickle therapy could slow the ageing process, as well as potentially help people with health conditions such as heart disease and mental health issues.
The TickleFoot can last for an hour of tickling, and can be turned on and off remotely. Sound like your worst nightmare? Or want to give it a go?
