Tickling is the act of touching a part of a body in a way that causes involuntary twitching movements or laughter.[1] The word evolved from the Middle English tikelen, perhaps frequentative of ticken, to touch lightly.[1]
In 1897, psychologists G. Stanley Hall and Arthur Allin described a "tickle" as two different types of phenomena.[2] One type is caused by very light movement across the skin. This type of tickle, called a knismesis, generally does not produce laughter and is sometimes accompanied by an itching sensation.