That's why it annoys us when other people fidget

You are probably familiar with this scenario: On the bus or train, someone is sitting across from you who is constantly wriggling his leg. You try to look elsewhere, but out of the corner of your eye you see his knee moving up and down. Although the bouncing is harmless, it gets on your nerves. Why is that?

According to a study by the University of British Columbia (UBC) in Canada, about a third of the population reacts negatively to other people fidgeting or jumping. In English-speaking countries, neuroscientists call this psychological reaction misokinesia. This new term is not very common in Germany and is derived from the Greek words misos and kinetikos and means something like "hatred of movement".

Both the etymology and the meaning of the term show certain parallels to "misophonia" - a psychological phenomenon in which affected persons react angry or annoyed to certain sounds.

In contrast to acoustic sensitivity, visual sensitivity has hardly been studied: the UBC study is “the first in-depth scientific exploration” of this human phenomenon, write the lead authors in the journal Scientific Reports. The results of the survey indicate that misokinesis is more widespread in society than previously thought.

To gain initial insight into misokinesis, graduate student Sumeet Jaswal and neuroscientist Todd Handy conducted a pilot study in 2,751 college students and then another study in 1,007 adults. This selection of subjects should represent a cross-section of the population that is as representative as possible.

Participants were asked whether they felt strong negative feelings, thoughts, or physical reactions when other people fidgeted or repeated certain movements, such as wiggling their feet or chewing gum.

The scientists then asked the participants whether certain sounds would evoke such feelings or reactions in them.

In the student group, almost 38 percent answered the question about the movements with "yes" and 51 percent answered the question about the noises with "yes".

In the adult group, the distribution was similar: About 36 percent of the subjects said they were sensitive to other people's fidgeting. And even 42.5 percent said that certain sounds would irritate them.

The number of participants who suffered from both misokinesia and misophonia was 32 percent and 25.5 percent in both groups, respectively. According to the researchers, this comorbidity, i.e. another, diagnostically definable clinical picture that is present in addition to an underlying disease, indicates a connection between the psychological complexes.

According to Jaswal and Handy, the severity of misokinesis differs from person to person. In the study, some participants said they had minimal reactions to other people's fidgeting. Others, on the other hand, reported feeling extremely disturbed by the jumping. In a press release, neuroscientist Handy explained the emotional burden on those affected as follows:

The scientists at the Canadian university wanted to find out why it bothers so many people at all when other people fidget with the help of a test. They wanted to determine whether people with misokinesia might have a reduced ability to ignore distracting visual stimuli. The researchers could not find a clear link between a weakness in visual processing and a sensitivity to movement. However, they have already identified other possible causes of misokinesis:

The mirror neurons are nerve cells in the brain that are stimulated when we do something ourselves or when we observe others doing certain things. Doctoral student Jaswal gave the following example: "When you see that someone has injured themselves, you may also wince because your brain reflects this pain."

Mirror neurons allow us to feel empathy with those around us. "These nerve cells help us to understand other people and the intention behind their movements," explained the first author.

In terms of the psychological complex, that would mean the following: when someone with misokinesia sees a person jumping, their mirror neurons activate, they put themselves in the zappler. However, since people usually jump, teeter or fidget when they are anxious or nervous, this brain reaction can also trigger nervousness in the viewer.

To prove this hypothesis, the researchers want to carry out further studies. In any case, one thing is certain: the movements of other people have an effect on our mood. But your own movements also say something about you:

This article was first published in September 2021.