Tickling is the act of touching a part of a body in a way that causes involuntary twitching movements or laughter.[1] The word evolved from the Middle English tikelen, perhaps frequentative of ticken, to touch lightly.[1]
In 1897, psychologists G. Stanley Hall and Arthur Allin described a "tickle" as two different types of phenomena.[2] One type is caused by very light movement across the skin. This type of tickle, called a knismesis, generally does not produce laughter and is sometimes accompanied by an itching sensation.
- ^ a b "Tickling". Dictionary.com. Retrieved 2012-05-27.
- ^ Hall, G. Stanley; Allin, Arthur (October 1897). "The psychology of tickling, laughing and the comic". The American Journal of Psychology. 9 (1): 1–42. doi:10.2307/1411471. JSTOR 1411471.