Odd Bods

It should be as easy as putting one foot in front of the other. So why do we wobble when stepping on a stalled escalator? Now scientists have found the answer – it’s our brains expecting the stairs to move which makes our leg muscles respond wrongly. Anew book, The Odd Body, attempts to explain other mysteries of behaviour. SASHA MANSWORTH finds out more.

WHY DO I SOMETIMES CRY AT HAPPY ENDINGS?

There are no such thing as tears of happiness. It is not out of happiness that we cry but because unpleasant feelings are stirred up.

During the emotional experience of a ‘four-star, four-hanky’ movie, we may hold back the waters until the film’s climax.

We then have a climax of our own, so to speak, with tears gushing forth.

The energy used to hold back the tears is discharged. The tears are an expression of this emotional release, combined with feelings of anxiety, fear, sadness, relief and so on.

WHY DO I OFTEN LOOK UP WHILE THINKING?

Most psychologists believe we use either vision, hearing or touch when we seek a mental solution.

An image, sound or feeling from the past, or a new one we construct, aids our thinking.

Psychologists have theorised that specific eye movements indicate what sense is being relied upon in any given thought.

If you look up to the left, you are constructing a visual image.

Up and to the right indicates you are retrieving a remembered image.

If this theory is correct, we look up when we think to draw upon old or a new visual images to help us out.

WHY DO I YAWN?

Evidence suggests yawning is triggered by as yet unknown physiological states. However it can be triggered by merely reading about or even thinking about yawning.

Research by University of Maryland psychology professor Dr Robert Provine found yawning is of clinical importance in health.

It’s important to open up the eustachian tubes (between the ear and throat) and adjust the air pressure in the ear.

Yawning – or its absence – can also be a symptom of brain lesions, tumours and other conditions.

It has been reported that psychotics rarely yawn, except in the case of brain damage.

The connection with sleepiness is based only on folk wisdom.

WHY DO I SNEEZE WHEN I COME OUT OF A DARK ROOM INTO THE DAYLIGHT?

Dr Eccles, of the Common Cold and Nasal Research Centre in Cardiff, said: ‘The sneeze occurs because the protective reflexes of the eyes (in this case, when encountering a bright light) and nose are closely linked.’

It’s a genetically transmitted characteristic that affects between 18 and 35 per cent of the population.

WHY DO I ITCH?

We still don’t understand everything about what doctors call ‘pruritis’.

The same pathways carry both itching and pain signals to the brain.

When our sensory receptors operate at a high level, a pain signal results. But when only a low level registers, an itch signal results.

Some physiologists say itching is a warning to the body of imminent pain.

Some anthropologists suggest it told early humans it was time to pluck out body lice and other skin parasites.

WHY DO WE BLUSH?

Blushing is one of only a few body changes triggered by the mind.

It appears biologically driven rather than learned but is definitely socially induced. We don’t blush in private.

A new theory suggests we blush when we have done something that threatens our status in a group, when we have done something deviant.

The author of this theory, Dr Mark Leary, said it’s a non-verbal way of saying: ‘Oops, I recognise I’ve broken a social rule.’

WHAT MAKES ME LAUGH?

Other than tickling, laughing is based on fear – of social embarrassment, loss of dignity, of exclusion from a group, of being foiled or exploited.

There’s a fine line between comedy and tragedy, between what makes us laugh and what makes us cry, between pleasure and pain.

Darwin said laughing discharges tension and babies laugh to lessen the likelihood of rejection by parents.

WHY DO I BITE MY NAILS?

The most common theory is that nail biting is stress-related and helps relieve tension.

Dr Richard Scher, director of the Nail Research Centre at Columbia University, New York, notes nail biters usually do so unconsciously.

They can’t stop until they develop a keen awareness of when and under what circumstances they bite.

WHY CAN’T I TICKLE MYSELF?

Tickling excites small, fine nerve endings just beneath the skin.

Although the first reaction is usually pleasure, it is tinged with anxiety.

Psychiatrist Dr William Fry said: ‘If there is no anxiety or danger, people do not laugh when tickled.’

So if we tickle ourselves, we know we can stop at any time, eliminating an essential component – anxiety. #The Odd Body, by Stephen Juan, illustrated by Olivier Kugler, published by Harper Collins, pounds 9.99