You can't tickle yourself because your brain expects your hand to be in a specific spot, not because it's predicting your every move.
April 10, 2026
Original Paper
Sensory Attenuation Reflects Proprioceptive Recalibration Rather Than Motor Forward Models
SSRN · 6545167
The Takeaway
For years, scientists thought the brain 'canceled out' our own touch by tracking motor signals. It turns out the brain is actually just using a spatial map of where it thinks your body is, revealing a much simpler way we distinguish ourselves from the outside world.
From the abstract
Forward models are widely regarded as the standard framework for predicting and attenuating the sensory consequences of self-generated actions. Sensory attenuation is a prime example, traditionally attributed to efference-copy–based predictions of the tactile consequences of self-touch. Here, we systematically investigated the mechanisms underlying sensory attenuation in 220 participants across six experiments. Using a device that enabled passive hand transport to mimic self-triggered self-touch