The 'Moist' Mind Virus: Why We Hate Wet Sounds

The moist mind virus became contagious enough to merit scientific attention. In 2016, Paul Thibodeau, formerly a psychology professor at Oberlin, attempted to quantify how far it had spread. In a series of five experiments run on Mechanical Turk, some 10-20% of people reported a strong aversion to the word moist. Compared to the non-averse, the moi... See more

The “strong negative emotional” response is more consistent. It is almost always described as either anger or disgust, or some combination thereof. (The consensus definition also includes “irritation” and “rage,” which are of a part.) Many people report panic and anxiety, but this seems to be secondary and evaluative—more about anticipation and whe... See more

Science has been slow to understand misophonia. It took over 20 years for researchers to arrive at a consensus definition of the condition. Formally, it is now described as: “a disorder of decreased tolerance to specific sounds or their associated stimuli, or cues. These cues, known as ‘triggers,’ are experienced as unpleasant or distressing and te... See more