“IF a rapid series of taps are applied first to your wrist and then to your elbow, you will experience a perceptual illusion, in which phantom sensations are felt along the skin connecting the two points that were actually touched. This feels as if a tiny rabbit is hopping along your skin from the wrist to the elbow, and is therefore referred to as the “cutaneous rabbit”. The illusion indicates that our perceptions of sensory inputs do not enter conscious awareness until after the integration of events occuring within a certain time window, and that the sensory events taking place at a certain point can be influenced by future events.
A group of Japanese researchers now shows that this illusion is not just confined to the body. In a new study published today in the Journal of Neuroscience, they report that the cutaneous rabbit can easily be induced to “hop out” of the body, so that the illusory sensations are perceived to originate not from the body itself, but from external objects that interact with it. ”
Read more at NeuroPhilosophy Blog
"
Sounds interesting. So, if I want to try this myself, how to do it? Can I tap my own wrist and elbow or does someone else have to do it? How rapid must the taps be? Is there anything else this effect is sensitive to?
Msg from Abeo: Someone mentions in the comments on scienceblogs post “A lot of these sorts of things can only be triggered by someone else, in the same way that you can’t tickle yourself. Get a friend to try it.”
There is a similar effect with pain in the body – which is essentially what you feel when you are touched. Pain is registered according to severity or level of pressure, temperature and pain. This is measured in separate receptors for pain pressure and temp and the resultant feelings are analysed by the brain and awarded severity. An itch is a small level pain for instance. However internally we dont always have these everywhere. So you get a thing called referred pain. Where you feel something inbetween your shoulder blades perhaps but its origins are in your hip. The body registers the pain in its nearest pain receptors to the incident of trauma. Receptors local to the trauma site may be damaged or just not be there so it refers the info to the nearest ones that work. So this rabbit thing could be the brain filling in a assumed gap.
Hmm, did Derren make use of this effect a few years ago in Trick of the Mind? I think it was the trick where he was convincing some ‘dancers’ that he was touching them without actually touching them.
Either way, very interesting reading!
to me it feels more like an ant, if it occurs at all…this kind of move is popular in qigong to stimulate the meridians.
This must be what Derren did to those strippers.
And I’m not rephrasing the above sentence. :-p
Ok this felt weired. Neuro-Science looks very interesting though.
I still freak out when i ssee a white rabbit on this blog
I’m too distracted by the picture…I want that bunny wabbit!!
Doing it to yourself, your arm just feels very hot. May ask someone else to do it……..Also, can I go all gushy over the baby rabbit?
AWWWWWWW!
It sounds similar to what I call the feeling a train. I will try to de-rail it and see if it goes away rather than over my chest to my other leg. Don’t remember taping. Best get myself checked out really.
Hmm, would love someone to try this on me, see if I ‘feel’ this.
Btw, can I take that bunny home? Awww sooooo cute!
Ahem….
LC x
What, wouldn’t call that a rabbit … Oh, tiny ticks ..
That can be done anywhere on the body .. and does not need to be done on two points .. To trigger a continuous sensation .. It’s more a mind job, the mind keeps repeating it after a while (at times). As it is with smelling something. At times you will not get rid of that smell all day. Not the same, although .. it is repetitive, or did it get stuck. Not really interesting unless it bugs you (well, smelling pee all day long is not nice).
This articles reminds me slightly about Derren with the 3 dancers. He makes them think that he touches them. Different procedure but all involved in the same mechanisms.
My big toe at times all of a sudden feels as if it gets stung by a big bumble bee or such .. whereas there is nothing. Circuits do get triggered for no reason.
ARGH!!! WHITE RABBIT!!
x