Okay: showing your tongue or biting your mouth to focus is normal

Have you noticed that we tend to like expression signals and symbols that refer to intelligence in some way? Eyeglasses, for example, are seen as a charming accessory by many people, and, undoubtedly, that bite on the lips, which almost everyone does or has done in moments of great concentration, is also seen as an irresistible gesture often .

Today I Found Out talked about these famous bites a while ago, and we, curious as we are, soon wanted to find out: why do we make this mouth gesture when we are focused or wanting to remember something?

It seems that the mother of the bite in the mouth is the outside tongue, which we did most when we were children. But why is it? Well ... It has to do with the fact that our brains work really, really hard to maintain our "language activities, " so to speak. As you stick your tongue out or bite your mouth, your brain receives signals of what is happening, after all your tongue is not standing still, but it is not being used for you to eat or drink anything. Because of this, your brain becomes more alert, alert, and you can therefore think better.

Theories and more theories

The whole thing obviously doesn't stop there, and the above explanation is just one of the possible ones for this question. Until recently, science believed that our cognitive abilities were controlled by different brain regions, but much has changed in this direction, thanks to new research.

A study published in 2010, for example, showed that the human brain can command motor and cognitive functions separately and while using different parts of our thinking organ. We also know that the brain region used to learn new words is the same as the brain region used to speak these words - even though we are talking about words, the functions (learning and speaking) are different.

Going even further in discovering how our gray matter works, a 2015 study found that some types of nonverbal concentration make us bite our tongue and mouth, while others don't. The researchers came to this conclusion after analyzing the physical reactions of a series of 4-year-olds. The surprise was that the activity that made the little ones stick their tongues out was one of agility, not concentration.

All connected

The conclusion also stated that there is a great connection between tongue and hand movements and that it is made through the language centers of our brain. Basically, this means that while we are concentrating especially on tasks that require the use of motor, communication, and learning skills, our language tends to move even in the mouth without us noticing it.

If we need even more concentration so that the brain is not so busy, we put an end to this totally unconscious dance of the tongue through the bite. Another curiosity: This is a more common tendency in childhood, and the reasons for this may range from our increased cognitive and motor skills during adulthood to the fact that sticking out one's tongue is less socially acceptable in adulthood.

Maybe just to keep our tongue out, we transfer the bite to its mouth. What we need to keep in mind is that with regard to the functioning of the human brain, the answers are always being assembled, with the help of old and new research, after all we are talking about an organ that thinks, learns and feels emotions - for all that, not even science has answers.

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Do you stick your tongue out or bite your lips when you are focused? Comment on the Mega Curious Forum