About Challenge l Contact Us l PS21 Website     Challenge > A Line for You > Why can't you tickle yourself? September Issue Why can't you tickle yourself? I do not know whether you have ever asked the question: “Why can’t I tickle myself?” I can imagine many of you trying to do that right now. Some of you will claim you can tickle yourself. But it is definitely much less ticklish than if someone else tickled you. So let me get back to the question: “Why can’t you tickle yourself?” A recent issue of the Scientific American explains it: “The answer lies at the back of the brain in an area called the cerebellum, which is involved in monitoring movements. Studies at University College London have shown that the cerebellum can predict sensations when your own movement causes them, but not when someone else does. When you try to tickle yourself, the cerebellum predicts the sensation and this prediction is used to cancel the response of other brain areas to the tickle.” Put simply, when you tickle yourself, your brain knows about it beforehand and cuts out (most of) the ticklish feeling. So if you want to enjoy a tickle, you must get someone else to tickle you. Getting new ideas is also like this. You often cannot produce new solutions or really new ideas on your own. Because of your past experience, you block out new possibilities. The new idea does not “tickle your brain” because you block it out. Albert Einstein once said, “The problem is not to think… but to think again.” This is why discussing ideas with others is important. This is why working as a team is important. This is why WITS, if properly run, can bring about more ideas and better ideas. Then our brains do not automatically cut out new possibilities from ideas that we may have thrown away in the past. Want to enjoy a tickle? Get someone else to tickle you. Want to “tickle your brains”? Let ideas flow to you from somewhere else. It can be ideas from friends and colleagues. It can be discussions in WITS. It can be training courses or books or movies…. What is important is to have a mind that is actively thinking, and a willingness to listen, to learn and to think again. Lim Siong Guan Head, Civil Service  -   2004 Archives > Select here ------- Full list August July June May April March January l February -   2003 Archives > Select here ------- Full list December November October September August July June May April March January l February -   2002 Archives > Select here ------- Full list December November October September August July June May April March February January -   2001 Archives > Select here ------- Full list November l December October September August July June May April March January l February -   2000 Archives > Select here ------- Full list December November September July June May April March February January -   1999 Archives > Select here ------- Full list December

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