Can you look at someone... and "know"?

[brotherted]

I feel like I can look at someone and have a good sense of whether they're ticklish. 100% accuracy? No, of course not. But there's something about how people move that I believe often betrays this secret about them. I think has something to do with this:

"Some people are simply born with more slow-twitch fibers, which makes them genetically suited for endurance sports (long-duration, low-intensity activity). Those born with a predominance of fast-twitch fibers have a huge advantage in sports involving quick bursts of speed and power that don’t have to be sustained for more than a minute (e.g. weight lifting)."

Source: https://bodybuilding-wizard.com/types-of-muscle-fibers-slow-twitch-fast-twitch

I can sometimes sense what I'd call, for lack of a better term, "jumpiness" in even people's otherwise casual situation movements. There's almost an elongated posture that often goes along with this as well. (The person who sits with the arched back is more likely to be ticklish than the person who sits slumped forward? Well yeah, kinda.) Again, we're just talking odds here.

I bring this all up because I met a woman last night about whom I felt this strongly -- and no, I don't this it's all just wishful thinking. We now have a date scheduled. I'll update honestly as more fact emerge in this breaking news situation. But first, do you agree with my premise? Do you feel you have a better-than-random ability to predict ticklishness based on looking at them?

 

[WickedTouch]

Perhaps to some degree, but it may be my own wishful thinking or human ego that keeps me from letting go of the idea completely, I'm sure with a bit of confirmation bias thrown in. I don't see any hard patterns that I can easily point to, and actually have seen no correlation for your personal example–maybe even the opposite. I'd say the sense I get from people has more to do with a mix of their personality attributes–something about them that's a little guarded or anxious that's difficult to describe. And again, it's not to say that I think that applies to everyone that's ticklish, but it does seem that many people that give me this feeling or impressions seem to be off the charts ticklish. Our subconscious mind picks up a lot of patterns that we react to all day long that we often never become conscious of. I think this is what's happening for me, if it is in fact a real phenomenon and not just my imagination.

I'll have to think more in general on the fast-twitch vs slow-twitch muscle fibers and how that could play into it. Thanks for the interesting ponderances.

 

[MrTicklefeet]

You'll never know for sure until you cross that line!