The mechanical stimulation of the plantar soles would cause laughter capable of lowering the levels of physical and mental stress
Don't store avocado like this: it's dangerousThere are those who love it, those who hate it and those who remain indifferent to it: we are talking about tickles, a type of physical sensation traditionally associated with reactions of laughter or stress relief. Indeed, the psychological literature of recent years has shown that tickling and laughter play a concrete role in lowering general levels of stress.
But what if it were possible to extend the relaxing benefits of tickling to muscle tension as well as to the mind? A team of researchers from the University of Auckland, New Zealand, tried to harness the known benefits of tickling for reduce the stress that builds up in the soles of the feet, by their nature subjected more than any other part of the body to continuous stresses during the day.
Researchers have developed an apparently very simple device, but effective for this very reason: it is, in practice, an insole equipped with small spheres capable of moving and stimulating specific points on the sole of the foot, causing tickling, and consequently, triggering laughter in the wearer.
It is laughter caused "automatically" by physical stimulation, not resulting from a fun situation, yet sufficient for the purpose - namely to reduce stress levels. In fact, tickle-induced laughter has the same power as those that arise spontaneously when we hear a joke or see something funny.
Before proceeding to create the insole, however, the researchers conducted an experiment to understand how and in which areas of the foot tickling is felt. The experiment involved seven women and six men, who tested a brush capable of causing tickling under the soles of the feet: the participants had to rate the perception of tickling on a scale ranging from 1 to 7.
It turns out that women are more sensitive to tickles (with an average rating of 5,57) compared to men (which recorded an average perception of 3,83). The differences between males and females also affected the position in which tickling was felt most, with women more sensitive to stimulation near the arch of the foot and men more sensitive to the toe area.
©DenysMatthies/YouTube
In the light of the information gathered, the researchers developed TickleFoot, the innovative insole equipped with three actuators that stimulate the most sensitive points of the sole of the foot. The insole is thin and flexible, designed to fit inside the shoes and to adapt to the shape of the foot; a small lithium battery powers the device, guaranteeing an autonomy of one hour.
The TickleFoot insole is then connected to a mobile application, which allows it to be switched on and off even remotely.
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Fonte: Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction
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