Human ticklishness is a widespread, culturally shared and bodily organized sensory experience

Nature Human Behaviour, Published online: 10 August 2026; doi:10.1038/s41562-026-02535-z Ticklishness is a familiar but poorly understood experience. Xiong and Kilteni show that ticklishness is culturally shared and follows a distinct bodily topography. They evaluate different theories on why some body regions are more ticklish than others.