It can be challenging to do it in the middle of a phrase while speaking. Only around 1% are capable of doing it. They are typically musicians as well. The movie also listed 17 additional skills that many people find challenging, such as connecting your tongue to the tip of your nose, which only 5 to 10% of individuals can perform. The specialists say that many people also find it difficult to isolate their ring finger: “Every time you move your pinky or your middle finger, you’ll move the ring finger too.” Only 18% of people can bend their thumb back or move their ears, two more actions that most people find difficult. The cerebellum, a region of the brain, keeps track of our motions and can tell if a sensation is expected or unexpected. If we try to tickle ourselves, our brain is educated to anticipate feelings when an action is brought about by our own movements (but not when an action is brought about by someone else’s movements). In other words, the brain stops us from making ourselves laugh. However, there are certain individuals who are capable of doing so. People with schizophrenia are able to tickle themselves because of their failure to discern self-initiated activities as a result of neurological alterations in the brain. While individuals are conscious of their own intentions and movements, their brain’s capacity to alert their body to those intentions and movements is compromised, so their brain is unable to prepare itself for the tickling.
