Following the “circle with left hand, square with right hand”, another epic challenge appeared – the tongue and head turned in opposite directions at the same time:
Image source: Weibo hot search
Netizens tried it enthusiastically, and then, unsurprisingly, experienced frustration after frustration.
The question is, why can’t the tongue and head turn in opposite directions at the same time?
Coincidentally, a recent study in the top international journal Nature answered this question.
Scientists have studied how we control the circling of our tongues in mice.
The trained, skilled mice can lick their tongues in circles to a moving water pipe, licking clockwise and counterclockwise.
The mouse licks the water pipe accurately
Image source: Document video
During this process, scientists were surprised to discover that even the simple-sounding task of turning the tongue in circles requires deep brain involvement and involves three brain regions :
One brain area controls the direction of the tongue’s circle, and the other two control the start and end of the circle, respectively.
If any of these brain areas are sloppy, the tongue will not be able to circle as required.
Mice cannot lick water pipes accurately
Image source: Document video
Most importantly, the study also found that the anterior motor cortex of the frontal lobe is also responsible for recording which motion sequence the tongue is currently in, such as a point in a clockwise circle.
If the tongue is to be changed to a counterclockwise circle at this time, this brain area needs to be responsible for sending out the signal to stop the current clockwise movement and start the counterclockwise movement instead.
Now back to our problem,Because the brain’s attentional resources are very limited, when the tongue turns clockwise, the head turns counterclockwise, and the frontal lobe The anterior motor cortex will be disturbed, stop the current tongue movement, and start the counterclockwise circle of the head.
So even if everyone tried their best, they could only turn their heads and tongues in opposite directions intermittently, not at the same time.
I didn’t expect that such a complex knowledge could be hidden behind a simple little question.
You can try to see if you can do it, friendly reminder: please make sure there is no one around, don’t ask me why
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Planning
Planning: Deanna | Producer: feidi
Illustration: see callout | Source of cover image: Lilac Design Team