Itching can be "caught" just by watching someone else having a good scratch, scientists have confirmed.
It is a phenomenon that can leave entire rooms full of people scratching at the merest mention of fleas or lice. Now scientists have proven for the first time that itching really can be contagious.
In a condition known as itch transmission, the researchers have shown that the sensation of an itch can be caught visually in the same way as yawning.
They found that simply watching a video of someone else scratching was enough to induce and intensify itching in volunteers.
Even when they were given a few drops of a liquid designed to induce itching on a patch of their skin, the volunteers tended to scratch more on random parts of their body. ...
via Itching really can be contagious scientists prove - Telegraph.
Monday, March 28, 2011
Itching really can be contagious scientists prove
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Long ago, Leonardo da Vinci noted that there was a painting which caused anyone who saw it to yawn. It was a painting of someone yawning.
That itching and yawning are contagious tells us what about ourselves?
(Xeno, when you're on stage, don't yawn! It'll spread in the audience. And, despite how good your performance is ... There's probably multitude of reasons why some public performers, advertisers and other propagandists, like some televangelists, etc. are, what I think, so disgustingly upbeat when in the spotlight.)
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