Joy Overload! The science of tickles and cuteness

Summary

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Podcast Summary: Brains On! – "Joy Overload! The Science of Tickles and Cuteness"

Podcast: Brains On! Science podcast for kids
Host: Molly Bloom
Co-host Kid: Coco Sanchez
Episode Date: August 4, 2026

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Episode Overview

This lively episode of Brains On! delves into the fascinating science behind tickles and cuteness. Host Molly Bloom and kid co-host Coco from Minneapolis explore why we can't tickle ourselves, why some body parts are more ticklish than others, the evolutionary reasons behind why we find things cute, and even why we sometimes feel the urge to squeeze or "eat up" adorable creatures. Along the way, they ask experts, share listener questions, and sprinkle in plenty of laughs, memorable moments, and real-life experiments.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Science of Tickling

a. Why Can’t We Tickle Ourselves?

• Multiple listeners asked: “Why don’t you laugh when you tickle yourself?” (05:10)
• Expert Insight:
  • Marley the (imaginary) skin receptor explains:
    • Skin receptors send signals through nerves and the spinal cord up to the brain.
    • When you touch yourself, “the brain intercepts the message coming from me. It's the brain that's quieting the signals of touches you do to yourself.” – Marley (09:59)
  • Neuroscientist Martha Flanders from University of Minnesota elaborates:
    • “When you tickle yourself, your nervous system has canceled out the sensory input that was produced by you. Canceled.” (09:39)
    • The brain expects the touch, so it's less surprising and not as funny.

b. Tickling from Others and Laughter

• Why do you laugh when tickled by someone else?
  • Neuroscientist Susan Labako explains:
    • Different skin receptors send information about light touch (like a tickle) and pain.
    • When you're tickled, your anterior cingulate gyrus (a pleasure and positive reinforcement center) is activated:
      • “Tickling activates this part of the brain, and it tells us that this is a good stimulus and it's not something that we need to be scared of, and that causes us to laugh.” — Susan Labako (14:03)

c. Why Are Some Parts More Ticklish?

• “The areas of our body that are the most ticklish, like our underarms and our feet...are actually the areas of our body that we need to protect the most...tickling is a way for us to learn which parts of our body need to be protected in case a threat came into play.” — Susan Labako (15:54)

d. Can You Train Yourself Not to Be Ticklish?

• Labako points to the cerebellum, which helps your brain "cancel out" tickle signals if you know your own actions are coming.
• Tip: If someone is about to tickle you, put your hand on theirs to reduce the surprise—and the tickle! (16:43)

e. Tickling in Animals

• Even rats can be tickled and will laugh (in ultrasonic frequencies).
  • “They actually laugh and they enjoy the experience. They run around...come back...because they want to be tickled again. But it's really interesting because they do seem to laugh the way that a human does.” – Susan Labako (18:22)

Memorable Moment:

• The “mystery sound” was revealed to be the sound of a rat laughing while being tickled. (36:16–36:39)

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2. Tickling & The Bladder

• Listener concern: Why do you have to pee when you laugh really hard from being tickled? (20:16)
• Dr. Rena Malik (Urologist) explains:
  • “When you're laughing so hard, that increases the pressure on your bladder...at the same time, your sphincter can weaken a little bit...allowing some urine to leak out.” (22:23)
• Tip: Take tickle breaks to spare yourself (and maybe your shorts)! (22:40)

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3. The Science of Cuteness

a. Why Do We Find Things Cute?

• Listener question: Why do people find cute things cute? (25:14)
• Dr. Sandra Pimentel (Psychologist) explains:
  • “By finding things cute, we're more likely to want to take care of them and protect them. They're more likely to look vulnerable...remind us like, hey, take care of me. I'm helpless here.” (26:15)
• The features known as “Kindchenschema” (baby schema) elicit these responses:
  • “Big head relative to body size, larger forehead, large eyes, round cheeks, small chin, and a small nose.” (26:49)

b. What Happens in the Brain When We See Cuteness?

• “When people are looking at these cute pictures, their brain releases dopamine...the same neurochemical...when we have something that we really enjoy eating. And that happens when we see cute pictures.” – Dr. Pimentel (27:16)

c. Cuteness in Culture and Marketing

• Kawaii: The Japanese word and culture of cuteness, with characters like Hello Kitty and Pikachu (28:05–29:43).
• Cuteness can be used in advertising to make us pay attention and want to buy things. “So cute can also be cunning when used as a marketing strategy.” – Coco Sanchez (30:15)

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4. Cute Aggression and Dimorphous Expression

• Listener curiosity: Why do we want to “bite” or squeeze cute things?
• Dr. Oriana Aragon (Clemson University) on Cute Aggression:
  • “This cute aggression, the desire to bite, squeeze, or eat something because it is so cute, is a common emotion.” (32:09)
  • There are words in many languages to describe that urge (e.g., "gigil" in Tagalog).
• Dimorphous Expression:
  • When we express the opposite of what we feel (e.g., cry when happy, laugh when nervous).
  • “It seems like it might help to regulate emotion, meaning, help people to control their emotions.” — Dr. Aragon (34:04)
  • Babies might interpret these faces playfully, helping educate them on emotions. (34:49)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “When you tickle yourself, your nervous system has canceled out the sensory input that was produced by you. Canceled.” – Martha Flanders, Neuroscientist (09:39)
• “Tickling activates this part of the brain [anterior cingulate gyrus], and it tells us that this is a good stimulus and it's not something that we need to be scared of, and that causes us to laugh.” – Susan Labako, Neuroscientist (14:03)
• “We believe that ticklishness is a brain's trick to make us have fun more.” – Shinpei Ishiyama, Neuroscientist (37:18)
• “The features of Kinchin Sema—big head relative to body size, larger forehead, large eyes, round cheeks, small chin, and a small nose. In other words, a baby face.” – Molly Bloom (26:35)
• “So, cute can also be cunning when used as a marketing strategy.” – Coco Sanchez (30:15)
• “This cute aggression, the desire to bite, squeeze, or eat something because it is so cute, is a common emotion.” – Dr. Oriana Aragon (32:09)
• “When people do express this way they come down from that really strong emotion a little better...help [to] regulate emotion, meaning, help people to control their emotions.” – Dr. Oriana Aragon (34:04)

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Timestamps: Important Segments

• 01:06–03:12: Silly skit – why can’t we tickle ourselves?
• 03:18–04:34: Molly and Coco discuss personal ticklishness.
• 05:10–11:32: Investigation with Marley the skin receptor & neuroscience explanation on self-tickling.
• 13:32–18:38: Deep dive on tickling, ticklishness, and tickling in animals with Susan Labako.
• 20:16–22:48: Dr. Rena Malik explains why laughter and tickling can make you need to pee.
• 24:35–30:15: The science of cuteness, Kindchenschema, dopamine, and Kawaii culture.
• 31:01–35:23: Cute aggression and dimorphous expressions — the urge to squeeze or bite cute things.
• 36:16–36:39: Mystery sound revealed – rat laughter when tickled (with explanation from neuroscientist Shinpei Ishiyama).
• 37:42–37:54: Lightning summary and takeaways from the episode.

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Final Takeaways

• We can’t tickle ourselves because our brains predict and cancel out self-inflicted touches.
• Ticklish areas are sensitive to help us learn to protect vulnerable spots.
• Laughter from tickling is the brain’s way of interpreting safe, positive sensations.
• Cuteness helps us protect babies and vulnerable animals; our brains reward us with dopamine.
• “Cute aggression” (the urge to squeeze or “eat up” cuteness) is a common, emotion-regulating response, not literal aggression.
• Tickling and cuteness both show that our brains and bodies are wired for fun, connection, and care.

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For more curious questions and fun science, tune in to Brains On! every week!

Transcript

[Molly Bloom]

Lemonada.

[Sponsor Voice]

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[Coco Sanchez]

Brains on Universe. You're listening to Brainzone, where we're serious about being curious.

[Mark Sanchez]

I really need a good laugh. I wish I could just tickle myself, but that never works. Nope, there's gotta be another way. Ah, I got it. A fake mustache.

[Marley (Skin Receptor)]

Uh huh huh.

[Mark Sanchez]

Nothing that usually makes people laugh. Oh, how about. Come here you. Banana cream pie with extra whipped cream. A pie in the face. Never not funny. Okay. Three, two.

[Rat Laughter / Sound Effect]

Messy.

[Mark Sanchez]

Delicious.

[Guest Psychologist / Researcher]

Mmm.

[Mark Sanchez]

But no laughs. Also, note to self. Try a little pickle juice in the next pie. This one is a little too banana. Y.

[Manika]

Wait.

[Mark Sanchez]

Bananas. The old banana peel. Slip and fall. That never fails. Okay, just toss this peel on the ground and take a few steps back until I can't see the banana peel. Now

[Manika]

walk.

[Mark Sanchez]

Like I don't have a care in the world.

[Manika]

Hey, Mark. Careful. There's a. Ooh, the bag of flour. Oh, yikes. Mark, are you okay?

[Mark Sanchez]

Oh, hey. Hey, Manika. Yeah, I'm fine.

[Manika]

Well, whatever you're doing in here, it sure is funny.

[Interjections / Additional Voices]

Really?

[Manika]

Yeah. Just look at yourself in the mirror. I mean, you're wearing a fake mustache, you've got pie all over your face, and you're covered in flour.

[Mark Sanchez]

I do look kind of ridiculous. Look, there's crust in my hair.

[Marley (Skin Receptor)]

I've got crust dandruff.

[Mark Sanchez]

Tasty though.

[Manika]

Oh, thanks, Mark. I really needed a good laugh.

[Interjections / Additional Voices]

Foreign.

[Molly Bloom]

Welcome to Brains On. I'm Molly Blue and my co host today is Coco from Minneapolis. Hi Coco.

[Coco Sanchez]

Hi Molly. How are you?

[Marley (Skin Receptor)]

I'm good.

[Molly Bloom]

It's a pleasure to talk to you today. So this episode is a double feature of Giggles and Adorableness.

[Coco Sanchez]

I think all of us could use a cuteness overload right about now.

[Molly Bloom]

Yes, I definitely could. So first we're talking tickling. So Coco, I want to know, are you ticklish?

[Coco Sanchez]

I'm kind of ticklish, but not really.

[Molly Bloom]

Have you always not been really ticklish?

[Sponsor Voice]

No.

[Molly Bloom]

So tell me, when did you start being less ticklish?

[Coco Sanchez]

Maybe when, like, I learned more things to, like, not be ticklish, I guess.

[Molly Bloom]

So tell me, what things you learned to not be ticklish?

[Coco Sanchez]

I tried to hold my breath.

[Molly Bloom]

So you found that when you hold your breath, you don't really get tickled when someone tickles you?

[Coco Sanchez]

Yeah, you can't really laugh when you're holding your breath. So.

[Molly Bloom]

Huh. So when you were younger, did you, like, like being tickled or not?

[Coco Sanchez]

Sometimes I liked being tickled, but sometimes I didn't.

[Molly Bloom]

Yeah, I do not like being tickled. I have not learned the tricks you have, and I don't care for it. We've gotten a lot of questions about tickling, but there's one tickling related question

[Narrator / Interviewer]

that a lot of you want to

[Molly Bloom]

know the answer to.

[Coco Sanchez]

Why don't you laugh when you tickle yourself?

[Guest Psychologist / Researcher]

Why?

[Coco Sanchez]

When other people tickle you, it tickles. But when you tickle yourself, it doesn't. Why do you laugh when other people tickle you, but you don't laugh when you tickle yourself? Our question is, why can't we tickle ourselves?

[Manika]

Yeah.

[Molly Bloom]

That was Grace from Halifax, Nova Scotia.

[Narrator / Interviewer]

Amelia from Wales. Clayton and Marcus from Toronto. And Katen and Henry from Clarendon Hills, Illinois.

[Molly Bloom]

And we had a different kind of producer investigate this for us.

[Coco Sanchez]

I'll just say it. She's a skin receptor. So a nerve cell in your skin that senses touch.

[Marley (Skin Receptor)]

Molly. Coco, I'm so glad you called. I have been wondering this same thing for ages. Why can't we tickle ourselves? I had a hunch who was behind this.

[Molly Bloom]

We are so excited to hear about it. But can you introduce yourself first?

[Marley (Skin Receptor)]

Oh, of course. I'm Marly. I'm a skin receptor. I sit in your skin and get signals from the outside world. Maybe tomato sauce splash onto your face when you're slurping spaghetti or a fly lands on your ear. Skin receptors like me sense those things. Then we tell the nerves we're connected to. We send a message down the line.

[Narrator / Interviewer]

That's our job.

[Marley (Skin Receptor)]

Okay, that's our job. But me, I get curious about things. You might call me inquisitive. And I've noticed something pretty interesting when I send messages about touches you've done to yourself. So, yes, tickling yourself, or self tickle, as I like to call it. Those messages, they seem to get a little lost. Not that you can't feel them. You can. But the strength of the message does not get through. So, like you, Caden and Henry, I needed to know why. First, I called a friend. He's a nerve cell in the spinal cord. Since he's farther up the chain, I thought he'd be able to help.

[Kevin (Nerve Cell)]

Oh, hi, Marley. How's it going?

[Marley (Skin Receptor)]

Listen, Kevin, I'm looking into some messages that I suspect are being intercepted. So when I send a message about a touch, do you know where it goes?

[Kevin (Nerve Cell)]

Well, you're a skin receptor. You sense the outside world. First, you send a signal to a nerve. And nerves are basically strings of special cells that send messages throughout your body. Then eventually, most nerves lead to the spinal cord. That's where I am. It's a big bundle of nerves. It runs up the back, through the backbones.

[Marley (Skin Receptor)]

Any way of losing a signal there?

[Kevin (Nerve Cell)]

Everyone I know is pretty much just passing things along.

[Marley (Skin Receptor)]

So millions of receptors like me send messages to other nerves. Those nerves send Send messages to you all at the spinal cord. Then what?

[Kevin (Nerve Cell)]

From the spinal cord, messages go straight to the brain. What kind of messages do you think are being lost?

[Marley (Skin Receptor)]

Kevin, I can't tell you what I'm working on just yet. I have to go.

[Narrator / Interviewer]

But this is so helpful.

[Marley (Skin Receptor)]

Thank you so much. I promise to fill you in later. Sounds to me like signals stay loud and clear until they get to one place. The brain. Like I said, I had a hunch. I thought the brain might be behind this.

[Narrator / Interviewer]

But who to ask?

[Marley (Skin Receptor)]

The brain is notoriously busy. No time to talk. I went to the next best thing. A person with a really smart brain. Her name is Martha Flanders. I found her in a neuroscience lab at the University of Minnesota Medical School.

[Martha Flanders (Neuroscientist)]

I study the somatosensory system, which means how we get information from receptors in the skin to the brain.

[Marley (Skin Receptor)]

Perfect.

[Martha Flanders (Neuroscientist)]

We have to have some sort of sense all the time of what's going on out there.

[Marley (Skin Receptor)]

Okay, the sense of what's going on out there. Me and other receptor cells, we provide that information by sending signals about what a body is feeling, which is obviously very important.

[Martha Flanders (Neuroscientist)]

And your brain keeps track of the kind of sensory input you should expect from your own movement.

[Coco Sanchez]

Aha.

[Marley (Skin Receptor)]

So there's a difference between self movement and movement from other places. For the brain, at least. I was under the impression that all touches or sensory inputs carried the same weight. A tickle is a tickle. It is to me, at least as a skin receptor. But that's maybe not true for the brain.

[Martha Flanders (Neuroscientist)]

When you tickle yourself, your nervous system has canceled out. The sensory input that was produced by you canceled.

[Marley (Skin Receptor)]

But why Would the brain cancel our

[Martha Flanders (Neuroscientist)]

valuable information because your nervous system expected that pattern of sensory input, because you produced it.

[Marley (Skin Receptor)]

So a self tickle, to me, a skin receptor, it still seems like news since I had no part in creating the movement. The brain, on the other hand, it does anticipate the self tickle since it commanded the hand to tickle in the first place. And so the brain intercepts the message coming from me. It's the brain that's quieting the signals of touches you do to yourself. Just as I suspected. Apparently, canceling out self tickles is a way to keep you alert. It helps you pay attention to touches that are important, like bugs landing on you or other people bumping into you. In the end, tickling yourself is predictable. For your brain, it's not important.

[Martha Flanders (Neuroscientist)]

But if someone else tickles you, you've had no way to anticipate that. And tickling is such a, you know, an interesting signal that you would have no way to see that coming.

[Marley (Skin Receptor)]

Well, as a skin receptor cell, I have no way to see anything coming. Not just because I have no eyes, but also because the brain is keeping all kinds of information to itself. But I don't have time to stew over this. I have to call Kevin and fill him in. I'll talk to you all later.

[Molly Bloom]

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[Molly Bloom]

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[Sponsor Voice / Additional Host]

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[Susan Labako (Neuroscientist)]

Brains Fun.

[Molly Bloom]

So tickling yourself isn't really a thing, but tickling other people definitely is.

[Coco Sanchez]

Hello, my name is Amelia from Green, Ohio. And my question is, why do we laugh when we're tickled? We wanted to know more about that,

[Molly Bloom]

so we called up Susan Labako. She studies how our brains handle pain at the University of California at San Diego.

[Coco Sanchez]

Welcome, Susan.

[Susan Labako (Neuroscientist)]

Hi, Coco.

[Coco Sanchez]

So I have a couple questions for you.

[Susan Labako (Neuroscientist)]

Go for it.

[Coco Sanchez]

First one is how does pain connect with laughter or tickling?

[Susan Labako (Neuroscientist)]

Our skin has receptors that feel a lot of different sensations. So one of them is light touch, like a tickle, a feather, something brushing against your skin. And another one is for pain. And these receptors are all different from each other, and they send information to the brain so you know what you're feeling. And then once it gets to the brain, all of these things are sent to an area called the somatosensory cortex. And this part of the brain helps us make sense of all of this incoming information from our skin and even like the inside of our nose, anything where we're feeling a touch. But the difference when you're being tickled versus when you're feeling pain is another part of the brain is activated. And when you're tickled, an area called the anterior cingulate gyrus is also activated. And this part of the brain is important for pleasure and, and positive reinforcement, which means if we do something that we like, we keep doing it. And so tickling activates this part of the brain, and it tells us that this is a good stimulus and it's not something that we need to be scared of, and that causes us to laugh.

[Coco Sanchez]

So what signals do neurons send to the brain when you're getting tickled?

[Susan Labako (Neuroscientist)]

Yeah, so this goes back to those receptors that are in the skin. So those are neurons, and neurons are our brain cells, but also the cells that make up the nerves that go to the rest of. And they send what are called action potentials back to the brain through a relay of neurons. And so these are little electrical signals that tell the Cells that they're active and they make the next cell active, and so on and so on. And so these little electrical activity and certain neurons are what allows our brain to understand what's going on, you know, in an area so far away, like our fingertips or our feet.

[Coco Sanchez]

That's very cool. Why are some parts of the body more ticklish than others?

[Susan Labako (Neuroscientist)]

This is a really interesting question. We would want to say, well, maybe there's more of these receptors in areas that are ticklish, but that's not always true. Think of your fingertips. We have really sensitive fingertips. They feel a lot of things very well, but they're not actually very ticklish. So some scientists think that the areas of our body that are the most ticklish, like our underarms and our feet and like our stomach, are actually the areas of our body that we need to protect the. And some neuroscientists think that tickling is a way for us to learn which parts of our body need to be protected in case, you know, a threat came into play. But since we're kids and we're learning to do these things, it's more of a fun thing, but eventually it'll help us.

[Coco Sanchez]

Can you train yourself not to be ticklish?

[Susan Labako (Neuroscientist)]

I am a pretty ticklish person, so I hope that it's a yes. One other related question that is really important to understanding this is why can't we tickle ourselves? And this is because there's an area of the brain called the cerebellum that helps us plan and execute our motor movements. And so when you're trying to tickle yourself, your cerebellum realizes that your arm is moving towards your underarm or your foot or something, and it cancels out the ticklish signals that are coming from that area because it's saying, oh, I'm doing this myself. So one strategy for being less ticklish is if someone's coming in trying to tickle you, you can actually put your hand on their hand, and it helps your brain realize there's something coming. I know where it's coming from. And then maybe you'll feel a little less ticklish when it actually happens.

[Martha Flanders (Neuroscientist)]

Wow.

[Coco Sanchez]

Just wow. I know.

[Susan Labako (Neuroscientist)]

It's a really cool field to think about how your brain is doing all of these things.

[Coco Sanchez]

Yeah. How have people studied tickling?

[Susan Labako (Neuroscientist)]

Probably the very first thing is we did a lot of observation. So scientists looked at people, different types of people, how ticklish they were, where they were ticklish. And then there's also been other really cool studies. We can look at primates like monkeys and apes. And then also one more recent study has shown that even rats like to be tickled. So we've been able to also look at animals to understand how tickling works.

[Coco Sanchez]

What do like rats and like those other animals do when they're being tickled,

[Susan Labako (Neuroscientist)]

they actually laugh and they enjoy the experience. They run around in their little enclosure, they come back to the experimenter's hand because they want to be tickled again. But it's really interesting because they do seem to laugh the way that a human does.

[Coco Sanchez]

Thank you, Susan.

[Susan Labako (Neuroscientist)]

Yeah, thank you, Coco.

[Molly Bloom]

Now a tickle for your eardrums. It's the

[Marley (Skin Receptor)]

mystery sound.

[Molly Bloom]

So, Coco, you are very ready for this mystery sound. I know, because that stinger we just heard the mystery sound. Stinger that plays every time we do the mystery sound. That is actually your voice.

[Susan Labako (Neuroscientist)]

Yes, it is.

[Molly Bloom]

How old were you when you recorded that?

[Coco Sanchez]

I think I was like four.

[Molly Bloom]

Oh, my goodness. That was a long time ago and we've known you for so long because your dad, Mark Sanchez, works on this show.

[Coco Sanchez]

Yes, he does.

[Molly Bloom]

Are you ready for the mystery sound?

[Coco Sanchez]

Yes, I am.

[Molly Bloom]

All right, here it is.

[Coco Sanchez]

Okay, I have, like three guesses.

[Molly Bloom]

All right, tell me your three guesses.

[Coco Sanchez]

A radio, somebody running or an airplane.

[Molly Bloom]

Okay, a radio, somebody running or an airplane. I like. Those are very vast and diverse answers. Well, you're going to have another chance to hear it and guess again in just a bit.

[Narrator / Interviewer]

Ba ba ba ba ba ba ba ba ba ba.

[Mark Sanchez]

Brains on.

[Molly Bloom]

Before we close out the tickle tastic part of this episode, one more thing

[Coco Sanchez]

it has to do with. If you get tickled, like a lot,

[Molly Bloom]

a lot, a lot, and you laugh really, really, really hard, you have to start to pee or you might even pee.

[Coco Sanchez]

Here's what's up with that phenomenon.

[Dr. Rena Malik (Doctor)]

Hi, I am Rena Malik and I am a doctor that takes care of the. The kidneys, the ureter, and the bladder. So basically everything that makes urine is something that I take care of. And I'm the plumber of all that. So I fix anything that's wrong with the plumbing.

[Molly Bloom]

Here are the basics of that plumbing.

[Dr. Rena Malik (Doctor)]

So a bladder is like a big balloon that's inside your pelvis right in the lower part of your belly, and that's where you hold urine. So when you drink and eat, your body processes all the fluid and all the new that go in your body, they go through your kidneys, which are these two little bean like organs on either side of your back. And then they go down these little tubes called ureters. And the urine goes down those tubes and into this balloon, like, structure, this sack essentially, and that's what holds your pee. And so that's called the bladder. And the bladder is connected to the outside of your body by the urethra. So that's where you pee from. That's called your urethra. And inside the urethra there are what's called sphincters. And these are muscles that contract or squeeze to keep your urine in.

[Coco Sanchez]

So to recap, your pee starts in your two kidneys, then whoosh. It travels down to two tubes called the ureters. Then splash two tubes, dump the urine into the bladder, where it waits until, zoom, the sphincter opens and the urine flies through the urethra and into the world.

[Molly Bloom]

You actually also have other sphincter muscles that have to do with pooing and swallowing. Different muscles, same name, sphincter. Anyway, your brain helps squeeze these muscles to keep the brakes on and stop you from peeing if you don't want to.

[Dr. Rena Malik (Doctor)]

And when your bladder gets full, it sends an urge to your brain, which takes off the brakes.

[Coco Sanchez]

That usually happens when you're in the bathroom ready to pee.

[Molly Bloom]

So that's a normal situation. In a tickle situation, when you're laughing,

[Dr. Rena Malik (Doctor)]

you actually increase the pressure in your belly, so you're laughing so hard. That increases the pressure on your bladder or that sack of urine. And at the same time, your sphincter can weaken a little bit or that tight muscle can relax a little bit, allowing some urine to leak out.

[Coco Sanchez]

So there you go.

[Molly Bloom]

Laughter kind of pushes on your bladder. So it's a good idea to take a break from tickling to take some of that pressure off your bladder.

[Coco Sanchez]

Spare shorts never hurt anybody either.

[Sponsor Voice / Additional Host]

We are working on an episode about why music makes us dance. And we want to hear from you. We'd love for you to invent a new dance move. Name it and describe it for us. For instance, I've invented a new dance called I hear you.

[Narrator / Interviewer]

I cup my hand, then put it

[Sponsor Voice / Additional Host]

behind my right ear, and then I cup my other hand and put it behind my left ear, all in time with the music. It's pretty cool. Record your dance idea and send it to [e-mail] contact. While you're there, you can also send us your questions, mystery sounds, drawings and high fives. Again, that's brainson.org contact.

[Marley (Skin Receptor)]

Thanks.

[Sponsor Voice]

Today's episode is sponsored by Great Wolf Lodge. Great Wolf Lodge's biggest sale of the year is here. It's the 84 degree sale from August 2nd through August 5th. Book a suite starting at just $84 a night. That's right. Book an $84 stay to enjoy our 84 degree indoor water park. Plus adventurous attractions, spacious suites, delicious dining, and complimentary daily events for the whole pack, all for $84 a night. It's the 84 degree sale. Book August 2nd through 5th at greatwolf.com for an easy family getaway only at Great Wolf Lodge. Restrictions apply. Discounts vary offer based on two guests per room and may be terminated without notice. See greatwolf.com for full details.

[Coco Sanchez]

Brains On.

[Molly Bloom]

You're listening to Brains On.

[Narrator / Interviewer]

I'm Molly.

[Coco Sanchez]

And I'm Coco.

[Molly Bloom]

It's time for us to change gears from tickle tempo to cuteness hyperdrive. Let's look at some cute stuff to get ready. So, Coco, you recently got a new puppy, which seems like a really good place to start. What is her name and what does she look like?

[Coco Sanchez]

She is a goldendoodle and her name is Ella. I'm gonna show you a picture.

[Molly Bloom]

Oh, it's a little fluff. Look at the little fluffy face.

[Coco Sanchez]

She's so cute.

[Molly Bloom]

Well, I think we are definitely connected to our inner cudometers now.

[Interjections / Additional Voices]

Yep.

[Coco Sanchez]

Ready to carry on and answer this listener question. Hi, my name is Samuel. And my name is Adrian. And we are from Juana Dias, Puerto Rico. And our question is why do people find cute things cute?

[Narrator / Interviewer]

Excellent question, Samuel and Adrian. We all know cute things when we see them, but why do we react to a baby that way head and not a grown up goo goo gah ga or a kitten but not a flower?

[Dr. Sandra Pimentel (Psychologist)]

The answer seems to be in evolutionary biology.

[Narrator / Interviewer]

That's psychologist Dr. Sandra Pimentel. And she explained that the reason we find some things cute and not others is hardwired into us.

[Dr. Sandra Pimentel (Psychologist)]

So if we think about evolution, right, sort of our goal as a species, as humans, is to survive and to sort of pass on our genes.

[Narrator / Interviewer]

And the way we pass on our genes is by having babies. But you may have noticed that babies can't do much on their own. They need us to take care of them and keep them alive. That's where the cuteness comes in.

[Dr. Sandra Pimentel (Psychologist)]

By finding things cute, we're more likely to want to take care of them and protect them. They're more likely to look vulnerable and kind of, you know, remind us like, hey, take care of me. I'm helpless here.

[Coco Sanchez]

So it's no surprise then that the features that we humans think of as cute are the features that babies have.

[Molly Bloom]

These features were dubbed kinschinsheima by the psychologist who first studied them, which, by the way, can we say that word a few times? Kinsensheima. It's a mouthful. Anyway. The features of Kinshin Sema big head

[Coco Sanchez]

relative to body size, larger forehead, large

[Narrator / Interviewer]

eyes, round cheeks, small chin, and a small nose.

[Coco Sanchez]

In other words, a baby face.

[Molly Bloom]

And these features appear in baby animals too. Like puppies, kittens, bunnies, all elicit this sound.

[Narrator / Interviewer]

So how does our brain make us like looking at cute things? It rewards us with a chemical called dopamine that can make us feel intensely happy.

[Dr. Sandra Pimentel (Psychologist)]

There's a study that had people looking at cute pictures and what they found is that when people are looking at these cute pictures, their brain releases dopamine. And that's the same neurochemical brain chemical that gets released when we have something that we really enjoy eating. And that happens when we see cute pict. So our brain is sort of sending this message that yeah, this feels good, this is pleasing, you know, keep at it, keep looking at these cute things.

[Coco Sanchez]

Sandra said there are other studies that show our brains want to give cute things extra attention over non cute things.

[Narrator / Interviewer]

Since our brains like cute things so much, it makes sense that these characteristically cute features, these kinschensheima, show up in

[Sponsor Voice / Additional Host]

pop culture a lot too.

[Coco Sanchez]

We see this stuff all the time. Think about Mickey Mouse or hello Kitty. Both have rounded features like big heads, large eyes. And lots of people find them pretty darn cute.

[Narrator / Interviewer]

Okay, fellers, the Japanese word for cute is kawaii. It is everywhere. Kawaii has inundated Japanese culture. I talked to Ryuta Nakajima. He's an artist who currently lives in Duluth, Minnesota and is originally from Japan. He told me that kawaii characters have the same traits. We've been talking big head, big eyes, little nose, rounded features.

[Sponsor Voice / Additional Host]

It really started to take off after

[Narrator / Interviewer]

World War II, but Ryuta sees it going back even farther than that.

[Interjections / Additional Voices]

The tradition of this Japanese cute thing probably go back way back to this scroll of a rabbit and a frog doing sumo wrestling. So I think there's a sort of a longing and desire for something that funny and cute and that will allow you to forget about the hardship in life.

[Coco Sanchez]

Many companies have kawaii mascots, as do cities and regions. There are Kauai versions of eggs, towers and flowers, and the famous poop emoji.

[Narrator / Interviewer]

That's kawaii too.

[Interjections / Additional Voices]

Anything can be turned into kawaii. That's the amazing thing about it.

[Narrator / Interviewer]

Some of the best known kawaii characters are from Sanrio, like hello Kitty and

[Interjections / Additional Voices]

Then there's every single Pokemon character has a kawaii quality built into it. That is at least 50 some years of Japanese anime engineering. It's not an accident those characters look so desirable. Why Pikachu looks so desirable?

[Manika]

Pika.

[Coco Sanchez]

Pika. Pikachu.

[Narrator / Interviewer]

Think about that. Pokemon are engineered by top notch talent just to make you go, oh, and because cute things demand our attention, these cute things are often used as a marketing tool to sell us stuff.

[Dr. Sandra Pimentel (Psychologist)]

There's a ton of psychology in marketing, right? We know this. And so these things are usually not by accident. And what's going to make things more likely for people to buy them, whether with money or buy them with their time?

[Narrator / Interviewer]

So companies might use cute characters to market their products or make the products cuter themselves.

[Coco Sanchez]

So cute can also be cunning when used as a marketing strategy.

[Molly Bloom]

Now, I have something else I want you to help me with. I want you to think of the cutest puppy, kitten or baby you've ever seen. Now, what sound do you want to make when you think of that cuteness? Is it more like an aw or is it something like, oh, I just want to eat you up. I want to take a bite out

[Sponsor Voice]

of you, you're so cute.

[Coco Sanchez]

I think it's more of like a mix of the first one and the second one.

[Molly Bloom]

So you have both. Well, those are both totally normal reactions to cuteness. But why, why do we go aww or want to bite cute things?

[Narrator / Interviewer]

What is that about?

[Molly Bloom]

Dr. Oriana Aragon from Clemson University wondered the same thing.

[Guest Psychologist / Researcher]

I was watching late night television and there was an actress on there and she was talking about this really cute puppy that she saw.

[Coco Sanchez]

I don't know if I just want

[Dr. Rena Malik (Doctor)]

to squeeze something, okay.

[Coco Sanchez]

And like just.

[Guest Psychologist / Researcher]

And she was gritting her teeth and clenching her hands into fists and making like snarling faces when she was talking about the cute puppy. And I thought, wow, that's really interesting. If you looked at that on the surface, it doesn't look like something you would show on your face when looking at something cute. And I talked with my dad about it on the phone and he said, well, but you got to think about, you know, grandmas and grandpas will pinch a baby's cheeks too and say, oh, you're so cute, I want to eat you up. And I thought, wow, you know, you're right, that that's different. And I'm a researcher, a psychologist by training, and I study emotions and how people express emotions. And so when I saw that, and it really occurred to me that it seems sort of an odd Reaction. I decided that that was something that I was going to study.

[Narrator / Interviewer]

And this cute aggression, the desire to bite, squeeze, or eat something because it is so cute, is a common emotion. There are phrases to describe this feeling in all sorts of different languages. French, mignon, a croquet, Greek, Polish, Vietnamese, Italian, Dastrapazare, Czech, Muglat, Dutch, and finally gigil. That last one is Tagalog, the language spoken in the Philippines. It's a phrase that means the gritting of teeth and the urge to pinch or squeeze something that is unbearably cute. It's one of those excellent words that says in one what takes us many to say in English. So even though you might say, you're so cute, I could eat you up, and you might grit your teeth and clench your fists, you're not actually feeling aggression, you're just expressing it. This is called dimorphous expression. When you're expressing something different than what

[Coco Sanchez]

you're feeling, the same thing. Dimorphous expression is happening when you cry when you're happy, or laugh when you're nervous.

[Narrator / Interviewer]

The same thing is also happening when you make this sound, and it comes

[Guest Psychologist / Researcher]

with a pronounced frown, actually, like a sad face. And it's another dimorphous expression.

[Coco Sanchez]

So when you see something cute, you're filled with positive feelings, but they can come out looking like aggression or sadness.

[Guest Psychologist / Researcher]

Let's say a tennis athlete scores a victorious point on the court. They might clench their fist and make a growling, snarling face and go, yeah, and express aggression for that happiness. Or they might crumple down and start crying if it's the end of the match and just release and you'll see tears of joy again.

[Narrator / Interviewer]

Dimorphous expression. So why does this dimorphous expression happen? Why can't we just smile and look happy when we're happy?

[Guest Psychologist / Researcher]

We have some indications that when people do express this way that they come down from that really strong emotion a little better. So it seems like it might help to regulate emotion, meaning, help people to control their emotions.

[Narrator / Interviewer]

So it's possible these dimorphous expressions help us deal with overwhelming emotions.

[Coco Sanchez]

But there is still more research to be done.

[Molly Bloom]

Oriana can say that people who have dimorphous expressions recover more quickly from extreme emotions.

[Coco Sanchez]

But she can't say if the dimorphous expression is the cause of the quick

[Molly Bloom]

recovery or if people who do that just happen to recover faster. Anyway, Oriana is excited to keep researching these reactions, these dimorphous expressions, to understand them more.

[Guest Psychologist / Researcher]

As a psychologist, I think about all sides, right? So I wonder also, what is that baby thinking? Because they encounter these little snarling faces of people looking at them who think they're adorable, and babies are soaking up information. I wonder if in some way it gives babies an idea that those faces can come about in a playful way. I wonder if it educate babies in any way about emotion expression.

[Molly Bloom]

So next time you go aww or want to nibble on a baby's cheeks, or cry at a wedding, or laugh when you're nervous, know that you're dimorphously

[Coco Sanchez]

expressing yourself, expressing a different emotion than you're actually feeling.

[Interjections / Additional Voices]

Brains.

[Marley (Skin Receptor)]

Brains.

[Dr. Sandra Pimentel (Psychologist)]

Brains.

[Molly Bloom]

Now, Koko, back to the mystery sound. Are you ready to hear it again?

[Coco Sanchez]

Yes, I am ready.

[Molly Bloom]

Let's hear it. Okay, Coco, last time you had a lot of different thoughts about what it might be. What are you thinking now?

[Coco Sanchez]

So the same things, and maybe like in a video game, picking up stuff.

[Molly Bloom]

Maybe like that's a sound from a video game of someone picking something up.

[Coco Sanchez]

Yeah.

[Molly Bloom]

Okay, I like the guess. Here is the answer.

[Rat Laughter / Sound Effect]

Okay, so the sound you heard just now is a rat's laughter when rat was being tickled. And actually this is ultrasound. That means it's so high that humans cannot hear, so the frequency is converted to lower pitch so that we can hear.

[Molly Bloom]

So that's a cute little rat laugh.

[Coco Sanchez]

Wow.

[Molly Bloom]

Shinpei Ishiyama is a neuroscientist who studies brains and fun, and he does that by watching how rats react when they get tickled. Rat tickles have a lot in common with human tickles. They have their own kind of laughter.

[Rat Laughter / Sound Effect]

It's pretty obvious they're having fun, and

[Molly Bloom]

based on their laughter and brain scans, rats also feel ticklish.

[Narrator / Interviewer]

Just before tickling starts, they anticipate being

[Molly Bloom]

tickled, just like we do. Just like a lot of people, rats resist tickling while it's happening, then come back for more when it ends. Shinpei says it's really hard to know why rats or people are ticklish, but he's going to keep looking into it. And he has one idea to start out.

[Rat Laughter / Sound Effect]

And we believe that ticklishness is a brain's trick to make us have fun more.

[Molly Bloom]

We can't tickle ourselves because we always know it's coming.

[Coco Sanchez]

But tickling from someone else probably will make you laugh, and it might help you. Bo.

[Molly Bloom]

Tickles and laughter might also push on your bladder, so watch out.

[Coco Sanchez]

Cute things have features in common, like big eyes and round cheeks.

[Molly Bloom]

Our love of cuteness helps remind us to take care of little kids and

[Coco Sanchez]

cuteness might make you feel one thing and express another.

[Molly Bloom]

That's it for this episode of Brains On.

[Coco Sanchez]

It was produced by Mark Sanchez Mainica, Wilhelm Sandon Totten and Molly Bloom.

[Molly Bloom]

We had production help from Ruby Guthrie

[Sponsor Voice / Additional Host]

and Christina Lopez and engineering help from John Miller.

[Narrator / Interviewer]

Special thanks to Rosie Dupont, Alex Flood,

[Molly Bloom]

John Collins, Kathryn Reggio, Tom Van Dyke, Chrissy Pease, Nancy Wynn. Now Winn, Daniela Roveda, Julia Makayova, Yana

[Narrator / Interviewer]

Rezikova and Nefeli Naya Manataki.

[Sponsor Voice / Additional Host]

Now it's time for the brains honor roll. These are the incredible kids who keep the show going with their questions, ideas, mystery, sounds, drawings and high fives. Luna from san jose, california cameron from north attleborough, massachusetts callan from bon, washington ava from columbus, ohio michaela from kinolon, new jersey avery from philadelphia june from lincoln, nebraska alonzo from southfield, michigan dean from st. Pete, florida b from denver cosmo from portland, oregon lexi from melbourne, australia elliot from portland, oregon lyle from asheville, north carolina josefina from kingston, jamaica kai from somerville, massachusetts riker from temple, texas isla, ava and honor from new castle, australia josie from bendigo, australia benji from highland park, illinois logan and grayson from norwalk, connecticut lewis harrison from chicago aria and kinsley from roswell, georgia cameron from oskaloosa, iowa himakashi from san diego penny from greenfield, massachusetts bodhi from kenmore, washington sam from ballston spa, new york gus from boston rose from lakeville, minnesota quinley from san francisco josh from honolulu lula from austin, texas roy from vancouver, british columbia ella, kate and maggie from newton, massachusetts. Listen and Sunday from springfield, vermont mohether from reykjavik dylan from austin, texas analia from los altos, california eloise from hope valley, rhode island evie and ashley from nanoos bay, british columbia paul from orange, california micah and julia from shaker heights, ohio ami from israel siddharth from bellevue, washington sam from manilas, new york owen from san jose, california callum and rachel from richmond, british columbia gaia from berlin, germany lucas from pittsburgh ben and lou from minneapolis ryder from denver, saniwah from minneapolis caleb and brayden from surrey, british columbia ida from new york city matthias from seattle alex from mukiltea, washington evelyn from potsdam, new york langdon and west justin from vancouver vail from aurora, california ita from cork, ireland arlo from eagan, minnesota owen from kirkland, washington and lars from olympia, washington. We'll be back next week with a new episode. Answering the question, do plants fart?

[Coco Sanchez]

Thanks for listening.