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If you’re irritated by the mere sight of people getting restless, new scientific study suggests you’re not alone.
Researchers in Canada recruited 4,100 participants who were asked to rate their sensitivity to people being agitated.
They found that nearly one in three people had experienced the psychological phenomenon known as “misokinesia, or” hatred of movement. ”
Misokinesia is a psychological response to seeing someone else’s small but repetitive movements, experts say, and it can seriously affect everyday life.
Misokinesis – “hatred of movement” – is a psychological response to seeing someone else’s small repetitive movements (conceptual image)
Misokinesia differs from misophonia, which refers to being annoyed by other people’s noises, rather than visually perceived actions.
The new study was led by doctoral student Sumeet Jaswal and Professor Todd Handy at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, who say misokinesis has barely been studied so far.
“I got the urge to study misokinesis after a romantic partner told me I used to move, which I wasn’t aware of,” Dr Handy said.
“She admitted that she felt a lot of stress every time she saw me or someone else fidgeted.
“As a visual cognitive neuroscientist, it really piqued my interest in finding out what is going on in the brain.”
The team asked its 4,100 participants – both students and other members of the general population – to self-report whether they were sensitive to people being agitated.
This was determined using questions such as “Have you ever had any strongly negative feelings, thoughts or physical reactions upon seeing or watching the restless or repetitive movements of other people (for example, seeing the someone’s foot shaking, tapping their fingers, or chewing gum)? “
The study’s authors state: “Among those who regularly suffer from sensitivity to misokinesia, there is growing popular recognition of the challenges it presents, as evidenced by online support groups.”
They then assessed the emotional and social impacts of misokinesia in people who reported signs of the phenomenon.
“They experience a negative emotional impact and experience reactions such as anger, anxiety or frustration, as well as reduced pleasure in social situations, work and learning environments,” said Dr Handy.
“Some even pursue less social activities because of the disease. We also found that these impacts increase with age and that older people reported a wider range of challenges.
As to why people are negatively impacted when they see others fidget, researchers are not sure, but it is possible that “mirror neurons” are providing an answer.
Mirror neurons are a class of neurons that fire both when we take an action and when we watch someone else perform it.
Mirror neurons activate when an individual moves, but they also activate when the individual sees others move – and they have been implicated in human responses such as sympathy before.
Researchers now hope to find out if “mirror neurons” may be at play for people with misokinesia in future studies.
“These neurons help us understand others and the intention behind their movements,” Jaswal said.
“They are linked to empathy. For example, when you see someone hurt themselves, you may also wince, as their pain reflects in your own brain and makes you feel their emotions and empathize with them.
The conceptual image shows the causes of misophonia, which refers to being annoyed by other people’s noises, rather than actions. Note that misokinesis, or a “hatred of movement”, is a different condition
“One of the reasons people get agitated is because they are anxious or nervous, so when people with misokinesia see it, they can mirror it and also feel anxious or nervous.”
For members of the public who are experiencing misokinesis, Dr. Handy offers them the following message: “You are not alone”.
“Your challenge is common and it is real,” he said. “As a society, we need to recognize that many of you silently suffer from this visual challenge which can negatively impact your ability to work, learn in school, and enjoy social situations.
“It’s a widely shared challenge that no one has ever really talked about. In initiating this discussion, there is hope for better understanding and better results. ‘
The study was published in Scientific Reports.
PEOPLE WITH MISOPHONIA MAY HAVE A ‘SUPERSENSITIZED’ BRAIN CONNECTION, ACCORDING TO A STUDY
People who have an extreme reaction to certain noises, especially noisy chewing and breathing, may have a “super-sensitive” brain connection, a new study finds.
Scientists at Newcastle University have found increased connectivity between the auditory cortex and areas of motor control related to the face, mouth and throat in people with misophonia.
Misophonia, which means “hatred of sound,” is a condition in which people experience intense and involuntary reactions to certain sounds made by others, called “trigger” sounds.
The results suggest that misophonia is not an abreaction of sounds, but “a manifestation of activity in parts of the motor system involved in the production of these sounds,” according to the study published in the Journal of Neuroscience.
Dr Sukhbinder Kumar, Newcastle University researcher at the Biosciences Institute, said: ‘Our results indicate that for people with misophonia, there is abnormal communication between the auditory and motor brain regions – you could describe it as a “supersensitized connection”.
Scientists at Newcastle University have found increased connectivity between the auditory cortex and areas of motor control related to the face, mouth and throat in people with misophonia
“This is the first time that such a connection in the brain has been identified for the disease.”
Misophonia has long been considered a sound processing disorder, but Newcastle University results suggest it is much more than that.
The extreme reaction arises from an abnormal type of communication between the auditory center of the brain, the auditory cortex, and areas of the ventral premotor cortex that are responsible for movement of the face, mouth and throat.
Scientists performed brain scans on those with and without misophonia and found that the auditory center (the auditory cortex of the brain) responds to sounds similar to those without a disorder.
People with misophonia, however, have shown increased communication between the auditory cortex and areas of motor control related to the face, mouth, and throat.
These regions of motor control were strongly activated by trigger sounds in people with misophonia in response only to their trigger sounds, but not to other types of sounds or in people with no condition.
“What surprised us is that we also found a similar communication pattern between the visual and motor regions, reflecting that misophonia can also occur when triggered by something visual,” said said Dr Kumar.
“This leads us to believe that this communication activates something called a ‘mirror system’, which helps us process the movements of other individuals by activating our own brains in the same way – as if we were doing this ourselves. movement.
“We believe that in people with misophonia, unintentional over-activation of the mirror system leads to a sort of feeling that sounds made by other people are entering their bodies, out of their control.
“Interestingly, some people with misophonia may alleviate their symptoms by mimicking the action that generates the trigger sound, which could indicate reestablishing a sense of control. Using this knowledge can help us develop new therapies for people with the disease. ‘
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