What causes people to have things that ‘go through them’ such as not being able to touch polystyrene or the sound of ice scraping in a freezer?
In: Biology
There have been a few studies on this but the most common conclusion seems to be: frequency.
The frequency of some of the most hated noises (nails on a chalkboard, styrofoam rubbing together, forks/knives screeching across a plate) are all pretty close to the frequency of infants crying.
We’re programmed to feel the need to “do something” when we hear an infant in trouble. That skin crawling feeling is our limbic system telling us “hey, go help!” Only with these noises, there’s nothing to do but wait it out, so it takes a while for the feeling to pass.
Bonus: for people who have issues with these types of noises, getting up and moving around a bit can help the skin crawling feeling pass sooner.
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