Hanger Reflex Can Make Your Head Involuntarily Turn

Memes, viral videos, and internet phenomena all come and go. The Ice Bucket Challenge from yesterday is now Yanny/Laurel from tomorrow. The Hanger Challenge was also the coolest activity in May 2022 for nearly two weeks. The idea was as absurd as it was straightforward. If you tie a wire hanger around your head, whether you want it to or not, your head will turn.

Everyone had to try it for themselves and then publish their own films of the results because nobody believed it to be true. As a result of the explosion in video production and widespread skepticism that the bizarre effect could possibly be real, a viral trend was established. Though it was! Your head will actually turn unintentionally if a hanger is stretched appropriately around it.

The phenomena was recognized considerably earlier and even discussed in scientific articles back in 2015, while only becoming popular in 2022. As early as 1995, it was even discussed on Japanese television. It's safe to suppose that it has existed for as long as hangers and heads have. Just never this much media attention before. The movement is involuntary when the unilateral fronto-temporal region of your skull is compressed, but it's not quite apparent why this occurs. However, in a research, over 95% of participants reported experiencing feeling, while only 4.2% appeared immune.