Giggling Rats Shed Light on Neural Origins of Ticklishness

Researchers discover that somatosensory region of the brain in rats is responsible for ticklishness
and found various parallels between rat and human ticklishness.
Audrey Immel
12 November 2016

Ticklishness is a puzzling trait found in many mammals; the neural mechanisms behind
this giggly and playful response to touch have remained largely unknown. A study in 1990 found
that rats respond to tickling with their equivalent to giggling, ultrasonic chirping. In a new study,
Ishiyama and Brecht used rats to uncover what region of the brain correlates with ticklishness
and how similar rats are to humans in their ticklishness. The team hypothesized that the
somatosensory area of the brain was responsible for ticklishness as this region detects touch on
the skin. It was also hypothesized that, like in humans, ticklishness in rats would be mooddependent and suppressed in anxious settings (Ishiyama and Brecht, 2016).
To track the neural responses of the rats while being tickled, the team inserted electrodes
into the somatosensory regions of five rats. They then tickled the rats on their bellies, backs and
tails, while simultaneously recording their ultrasonic chirps and brain activity. To test whether
ticklishness is mood-dependent, they repeated this experiment with a control group in the same
conditions, and the experimental group of rats in a stressful setting. The team tickled the
experimental group after placing these rats on a high platform with a bright light shone on them.
The researchers also microstimulated the somatosensory cortex without tickling the rats to see if
ticklishness and activity in this brain region are causally related. If the teams hypothesis was
correct, there would be more chirping and activity in this region of the brain when the rats were
tickled, and a chirping response when this region of the brain was microstimulated. If the
researchers were correct about rats having similar ticklishness to humans, then the stressful
setting would suppress a ticklish response. If the somatosensory region had no connection to
ticklishness, then this brain activity would be the same with the tickling as without (see Figure 1)
(Ishiyama and Brecht, 2016).

The results showed intense activity in the trunk of the somatosensory cortex and chirping
when the rats were tickled with the strongest response during belly-tickling. Interestingly, the
rats also chirped and showed the same brain activity while the rats chased the experimenters
hand (see Figures 2 and 3). The rats also chirped while the somatosensory region was directly
microstimulated, without any actual tickling. As hypothesized, the rats on the high platform with
the bright lights had a lesser response to the tickling as their anxiety suppressed the response (see
Figure 4) (Ishiyama and Brecht, 2016).
This study not only reveals that the somatosensory region is responsible for ticklishness,
but that humans and rats share many of the same responses to tickling; the belly area is more
ticklish and anxiety can suppress ticklishness. The fact that the rats had the same response to
tickling as hand-play also suggests that playfulness and ticklishness are linked to the same brain
region. With the neural correlate to tickling now better understood, the next question to answer
would be about the evolution of ticklishness and what social advantages it could hold. With rats,
primates, and humans exhibiting similar responses, a common ticklish ancestor is apparent. To
trace the evolutionary origins of ticklishness, it would be useful to study whether more mammals
release a giggly response to being touched and then finding a common gene among these
animals. There is clearly a social element to ticklishness as being tickled by strangers is rarely
seen as playful. Being tickled is most times not as fun as our outward appearance would suggest.
Perhaps responding to an uncomfortable sensation from peers and loved ones in a playful way is
advantageous to forming social and sexual bonds.

Figure 1 (Left) A possible graph of somatosensory brain activity if the hypothesis was correct
and tickling evokes this neural activity. (Right) The expected results if the hypothesis was
incorrect and tickling has no connection to the somatosensory region.

Figure 2 The varying rates of ultrasonic vocalizations (chirping) before, during, and in between
tickling. The ventral trunk, or belly, had the highest rate of chirping.

Figure 3 The firing rate in the somatosensory cortex during tickling, hand play, and breaks. This
regional brain activity is highest during belly tickling but still active during non-tickling
playfulness.

Figure 4 The rats made less ultrasonic vocalizations in the anxiety-inducing setting.

Literature Cited
Ishiyama, S. and Brecht, M. (2016) Neural correlates of ticklishness in the rat somatosensory
cortex. Science. 344: 757-760.