A different perspective on head tapping/rubbing.

[Guest guest]

With all the mails on head slapping/rubbing I thought this may interest some

of you. I am sure it is nothing to do with the head rubbing that has been

described, but may apply to some children. My son does this when he is

finding a situation stressful. As he is verbal and a hypochondriac, I know

he hasn't got a headache. He says it helps him to think.

Pamela

Excerpt from The Times, UK.

Medical notes:

Ever wondered why we slap our hands on our foreheads when we are trying to

solve a tricky problem? A study by Brain Sciences Unit in Cambridge (UK)

gave people verbal and spatial problems to solve, then monitored which areas

lit up on scans of their heads. They found it was the same area just above

the eyebrow, regardless of the task. Tapping the area with the hand may be

an unconscious way of encouraging it to function. The size of the area

involved did not vary much from one individual to another, suggesting that

brain efficiency, rather than size, is crucial in the IQ stakes.