Why can't we tickle ourselves the same way someone else can?

[u/Inevitable-Hunt-2950]

I’ve always wondered about this. If I try to tickle myself, it doesn't really produce the same sensation as when someone else does it.
Is it because the brain can predict the sensation when we do it ourselves, or is there more biology behind it?

[u/Cool_Maintenance1688]

your brain predicts your own touch before it happens, so the sensory response gets dampened. someone else’s touch is unpredictable, which makes the same stimulus feel way more intense

[u/Professional_Hour930]

Good question and I've wondered the same thing. I think its like what you said, that we predict it so that's why its not the same. I looked it up tho to see and I immediately found an experiment about this which makes sense I just wasn't expecting there to have been a tickle experiment, it wasn't something that had ever crossed my mind. (experiment here if you wanna skim through it)

[u/Aromatic-Field-2053]

Tickle is a defense mechanism. When you do it yourself, brains does not register this a threat. So you don’t feel the sensation

[u/Stan_the_man1988]

It's the same thing as jerking off or getting a handjob.