For some it is an unsolvable problem. It is enough for a person at the table to chew with particular intensity, or maybe the neighbor makes his fingers crack, or even the chalk runs on the blackboard to trigger a real annoyance reaction. In some cases we even get to real forms of disgust, with the fixed thought of finding ourselves far from the sources of the more or less intense noise.
This condition, which really affects many people in a more or less serious form, is called misofonia. It is the sounds perceived as unpleasant that create the malaise. And you have to be really careful, considering that there are so many people who perceive a feeling of discomfort when they find themselves in these situations. But how does the problem arise? And what are the mechanisms that can determine it? To shed light on this issue, with a really interesting study also given the specificity of the framework that is faced, now comes a research by the experts of the Ohio State University, published in Frontiers in Neuroscience.
What happens in the brain
The research examined what happens in the brain of those who hear people making their fingers “crack” as a trigger for misophonia. This observation has significance considering that several studies previously had focused on the reaction to loud chewing, almost rumination. This is why the results of the American survey are intriguing. In fact, there would be different mechanisms than what happens for those who chew loudly in those who cannot stand the classic noise of the fingers.
The research looked at about twenty people who underwent functional MRI of the brain while performing various tasks, as well as giving anself evaluation of their own misophonia through questionnaires that somehow made it possible to verify that only a few of them had a slight feeling of annoyance in front of certain noises.
Then began i test real. For example, we went to see what happened in the brain when these people repeated some syllables, since the production of language can report what happens with chewing in terms of reaction in the observer, given the involvement of the mouth and face movements. Then the participants also repeatedly tapped their fingers on their legs in a separate part of the experiment to perform another movement related to misophonia.
Finally, brain reactions in the absence of activity were checked. The investigation showed that at rest those with misophonia problems had more intense connection networks between the auditory cortex and an area of motor control, a fact already demonstrated by other research. But if the mouth was used to make sound, the activation affected a different region of the nervous system, with no particular differences in the cerebral connections between those who had specific problems and those who instead tolerated sounds without difficulty. In short: unlike what was previously thought, perhaps the nervous area responsible for hearing is not the main protagonist of the reactions of those who cannot stand certain noises.
In participants who scored higher on misophonia, there was a stronger connection between brain regions associated with finger movement and sensation and the insula area of the brain, which is linked to strong emotions, including the disgust. We are only at the beginning, but the science that tries to explain the reaction of annoyance and suffering to different noises, not only related to the movements of the mouth, it proceeds to understand what really happens.