Why do we keep itching when we see others scratching?

When you see someone scratching, you may feel itchy and scratching is not the dominant psychology but rather the "social infection" reaction that connects directly to your brain.

Recent research has found that our brains are instinctively concerned about the actions of others. The main manifestation is the repeatability of behavior or attitudes among individuals.

Similarly, when we see others yawning, we tend to react to the action by yawning.

This study was conducted by a group of experts from Washington State University, showing that pruritus is also a special "contagious" social behavior. Sometimes, even just the mention of itching makes us want to scratch.

The act of scratching itch when seeing someone else doing is intrinsically instinctive.(Photo: The Huffington Post).

According to the research team's survey, many people think that the reaction exists only in the brain, but the actual experiments show that the cause is instinct rather than a form of empathy.

To draw these important conclusions, the team conducted an interesting test on mice.

The experiment obtained unexpected results

Dr. Zhou-Feng Chen, director of the Center for Pruritus Research at the University of Washington described the special experiment:

"The rats were placed in a room with a computer screen, on which they played a video of another mouse scratching. Just a few seconds later, the rats in the room also started scratching. This is surprising because the mouse. is a species known to have poor vision. "

Rats often use smell and touch to explore everything around them. Therefore, whether they see the experimental video or not remains to be determined.

However, even if the video could not be seen, they could accurately know the scratching action of the mouse on the screen.

Observing the brain's brain activity after watching the video showed that the brain's suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) area (which is responsible for regulating sleep cycles) suddenly became active. .

GRP plays a role in signaling when we see others scratching.(Photo: Independent)

When analyzing the brain activity of mice as they began to scratch, the team discovered that SCN released a substance called GRP ( gastrin-releasing peptide ). Previous research by Dr. Chen showed that GRP helps transmit itchy signals from the skin to the spinal cord.

Experimental mice scratched itch not because they saw another mouse doing this, but they themselves thought that the same thing should be done.

According to experts, these findings show that the mouse itself cannot control scratching when seeing similar behavior in other mice.

Specifically, the mouse's brain began emitting an itch signal by using GRP as a messenger catalyst. It is an innate and completely instinctive behavior that people also exhibit.

This is why people feel itchy and follow the gas to see others scratching.

• Why do relieve itching scratching?
• Why do you often itch when it is cold?