A recent study confirms that women have stronger ticklish feet than men. Men are more sensitive near the center of the vault, while women feel the most in the toes, the Daily Mail said.
The tool, called TickleFoot, was developed by researchers at the University of Auckland. The device examined the effects of foot tapping in both men and women.
The study found that women were more sensitive near the center of the arch under the foot, while men were more sensitive to the toes. Although previous research has shown that tickling can act as an anti-stress agent, nothing else has been done about the effects of tickling in men and women.
The researchers created a battery-tapping device with a small brush attached to detect various parts of the foot.
The study was published in ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction.
One researcher says, “First we created an actuator that can create armor sensations along the foot with magneto-driven brushes.”
He added: “Then we did two studies to identify the most exciting areas of the foot and the patterns of excitement that evoke laughter.”
Seven women and six men tested the device and assessed the level of tickling they felt in different parts of their ticklish feet.
According to the results, the men gave an average score of 3.83, while the women gave an average score of 5.57. The Daily Mail reports that the research team has created a flexible insole that fits in any shoe and is applied to the user as they wish.