I’ve been a bit busy today marking repeat examinations, so I’ve only got time for a short post. Yesterday, while working on something else, I got to wondering why it is that people often touch or stroke or scratch or hold their chin while thinking deeply?
It’s such a common visual trope that the stock image collection on wordpress has dozens of photographs of people doing it. Here’s one:
And of course, there’s Le Penseur by Auguste Rodin:
The apparent connection between chin and brain seems to be a cross-cultural phenomenon which is common to all ages and genders. Whatever the reason for it is, it’s presumably related to scratching your head, which is a common idiomatic expression for feeling confused, puzzled, or thinking very hard about a difficult problem. It may also be related to the endearing habit many people (especially children) of poking their tongue out of the corner of their mouth while concentrating on writing or drawing…
None of the explanations I’ve heard for such behaviour makes much sense, so I wonder if any of my readers can suggest a reason?
(Bonus marks for implausibility.)
In the Dark 