Index Home About Blog
From: "Steve Harris" <sbharris@ix.RETICULATEDOBJECTcom.com>
Newsgroups: sci.med
Subject: Re: Physiology Question
Date: Mon, 22 Apr 2002 20:52:11 -0600
Message-ID: <aa2i96$h3c$1@nntp9.atl.mindspring.net>

"Richard Alexander" <pooua@aol.com> wrote in message
news:d8fbbe2d.0204221830.e457a41@posting.google.com...

> I decide where I want the sensation and how rapidly I'm going to build
> up the intensity, and to what level. Then, I just do it. I've never
> figured out how I do it. I've spent a lot of time trying to figure
> that out over the years.


See if you can get into a research center where they're doing PET scanning,
and see if they can scan you while you're shocking yourself.

Some of these things turn out strangely. For example: I can wiggle my ears
like many people, and the same action "pops" them (clears and qualizes
pressure in the eustacian tube) so I had some idea some muscles inside were
doing something also. Eventually I learned how to control these only-- by
starting the action but not going too far I can get the ears to pop and
clear, without them moving at all. What's going on?  Had no idea. So I had
an ENT look in my ear as I was doing it, to see if he could see anything
down inside, and he was aghast. I found that the muscle I have voluntary
control over is the tensor tympani-- a tiny little dab of a muscle which
flexes your eardrum involuntarily with loud noises, to protect your cochlea.
Except it's not quite involuntary in everyone. Some people can wiggle their
ears; I can wiggle just my *eardrums*.

This is my only physiological talent, and a poor one it is, too. : (   It
helps me a bit in scuba, but I doubt if the Olympics will be sanctioning
tympanastics really soon. It's interesting, though. So I always encourage
people who come up with stuff like this, to see if they can get it studied.
Who knows what the variability in the human animal really is?

SBH




Index Home About Blog