When someone around you is restless, it can be annoying. Fun. Even exciting. But why?
According to a new first study of this type, the stressful sensations triggered by seeing other people uneasy are an extremely common psychological phenomenon, affecting up to one in three people.
Called misokinesia, which means “hatred of movements,” this strange phenomenon has been little studied by scientists, but has been observed in research into a related condition, misophony: a disorder in which people are irritated when they hear certain repetitive sounds.
Misokinesia is somewhat similar, but the triggers are generally more visual than audible, the researchers say.
“[Misokinesia] is defined as a strong negative affective or emotional response to the sight of another person’s small, repetitive movements, such as seeing someone restless with their hand or foot, “a team of researchers, led by the first author and student PhD student in psychology, Sumeet Jaswal, of the University of British Columbia (UBC) in Canada, explains in a new article.
“However, surprisingly, there is a lack of scientific research on the subject.”
To improve our understanding, Jawal and other researchers conducted what they say is the “first in-depth scientific exploration” of misokinesis, and the results indicate that a high sensitivity to people should be treated with a high sensitivity to restlessness.
Over a series of experiments involving more than 4,100 participants, researchers measured the prevalence of misokinesia in a cohort of college students and people in general, assessing the impacts it had on them, and exploring why sensations might manifest.
“We found that approximately one-third self-reported some degree of sensitivity to misokinesis to the repetitive and disturbing behaviors of others as they encountered in their daily lives,” the researchers explain.
“These results support the conclusion that sensitivity to misokinesia is not a phenomenon restricted to clinical populations, but is a basic and hitherto little-recognized social challenge shared by many of the general population.”
According to the analysis, misokinesis sometimes goes hand in hand with the sound sensitivity of misophony, but not always. The phenomenon seems to vary significantly between individuals, some people only report a low sensitivity to disturbing stimuli, while others feel very affected.
“They are emotionally negatively affected and experience reactions such as anger, anxiety or frustration, as well as reduced enjoyment in social situations, work and learning environments,” explains UBC psychologist Todd Handy.
“Some even develop less social activities due to illness.”
Handy began investigating misokinesia after a couple told him he was a fidgeter and confessed that he felt stressed when he was worried (or anyone else about it).
“As a visual cognitive neuroscientist, this piqued my interest in knowing what’s going on in the brain,” Handy says.
So the millionaire question is still alive: why do we find disorders so annoying?
In the study, researchers conducted tests to see if people’s misokinesis could originate in high visual-attentional sensitivities, which equate to the inability to block distracting events that occur in their visual periphery.
The results based on the first experiments were inconclusive on this front, with the researchers finding no firm evidence that reflexive visual attention mechanisms contribute substantially to sensitivity to misokinesia.
While we’re really just beginning to explore where cognitive-level misokinesis can arise (other than, you know, restless people are a little upset), researchers have some hypothetical clues they want to follow. in future research.
“One possibility we want to explore is that their‘ mirror neurons ’are at stake,” Jaswal says.
“These neurons are activated when we move, but they are also activated when we see others move … For example, when you see someone hurt, you can also make a fool of yourself, as their pain is reflected in your own brain “.
By extension, people prone to misokinesia may unconsciously empathize with the psychology of fidgeters. And not in a good way.
“One reason people worry is because they’re anxious or nervous, so when people with misokinesia see someone restless, they can reflect on it and they also feel anxious or nervous,” Jaswal says.
As to whether this is what is really happening here with misokinesis, only further research on the phenomenon can be said with certainty.
One thing is certain, though. From the results seen here, it is clear that this unusual phenomenon is much more common than we realized.
“For those who suffer from misokinesia, you’re not alone,” Handy says. “Your challenge is common and real.”
The findings are reported in Scientific reports.