Sticking Tongue Out: Can This Gesture Really Help You Concentrate, Clear Headache?

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Sticking Tongue Out: Can This Gesture Really Help You Concentrate, Clear Headache?

Sticking tongue out has several meanings depending on one's culture. Protruding one's tongue could mean one thing in your country and another in a different nation.

Sticking Tongue Out

Some claim sticking your tongue out could help you concentrate. Is this the case?

According to Gillian Forrester, a Professor of Comparative Cognition at the Birbeck University of London, it's not so much that sticking your tongue out helps you focus; most individuals do it spontaneously when performing precise manual tasks like threading a needle.

She claimed that this behavior has a lengthy evolutionary background. Around 4 million years ago, when humans began walking on two legs, our hands were occupied with competing tasks like using tools and making gestures for communication. They believe the present human language system started in visual, gestural communication using the hands, face, and posture.

When trying to speak and act simultaneously, such as when instructing someone on how to construct or use a tool, these conflicting hand movements cause issues, which may put pressure on our communication system, from gestures to voice.

"Hand and mouth actions are closely linked, and the mouth mirrors hand actions during fine motor activities," she added.

This is supported by neuroscientific evidence, demonstrating that our tool-use hand behavior involves the same brain regions as speech. Additionally, behavioral data shows the intimate relationship between these two motor systems and how, when performing delicate motor motions, the mouth mimics the hand's actions.

According to experiments, when asked to pick up large objects first and then smaller ones, people's mouths will open and close in proportion to the size of the grasp their fingers are utilizing.

When performing fine motor hand movements, most kids stick out their tongues. Although social pressures educate us to keep our mouths shut so that our tongues aren't sticking out, adults nevertheless likely make these tongue movements.

Contee Seely of Berkeley, California, added that sticking out one's tongue and wiggling it stimulates a part of the brain that can make a difference in one's mental state. Doing so is reportedly effective in clearing headaches from the back of her head.

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What Does Sticking Our Tongues Out Mean?

Leon F. Seltzer, Ph.D., author of Paradoxical Strategies in Psychotherapy and The Vision of Melville and Conrad, suggested several meanings of tongue protrusion. According to him, the act could mean one thing in one country and another in a different culture.

For instance, the Maori people of New Zealand sticks have stuck their tongues out as part of a war chant preceding battle. They reportedly deliberately do this to intimidate their enemy. Meanwhile, In Tibet, they do the act as a greeting and sign of respect.

Maureen O'Sullivan, a psychology professor, acknowledged the various meanings of sticking one's tongue out. According to her, it could have multiple meanings, like being an act of rudeness, disgust, playfulness, or sexual provocation. Sullivan added that tongues were finding their way to ads because marketers ran out of body parts to expose.

In Seltzer's research, the act could be a way of being cute when meant to tease or amuse. Some do so when they do something stupid or silly. It could also convey nervousness, disagreement, or anger.

He also acknowledged that it could signify a level of concentration when one is trying to accomplish something challenging. It can also be associated with sexual innuendos. Miley Cyrus' tongue display in several public outings was seen as such. Also, in Chicago's Westside, streetwalking prostitutes reportedly use the same gesture to signal male motorists that they are ready to do a quick job. It could also be associated with cunnilingus.