Research Article Can Tics be Performed Convincingly by an Actor? Kirsten R. Müller-Vahl, 1 Laura Riemann, 1 Hermann Krämer, 2 and Alexander Münchau 3 1 Clinic of Psychiatry, Social Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Hannover Medical School, Carl-Neuberg-Straße 1, 30625 Hannover, Germany 2 German Tourette Self Help Group (Tourette Gesellschaf Deutschland, TGD e.V.), c/o Clinic of Psychiatry, Social Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Hannover Medical School, Carl-Neuberg-Straße 1, 30625 Hannover, Germany 3 Department of Movement Disorders and Neuropsychiatry in Children and Adults, University of L¨ ubeck, Maria-Goeppert-Straße 1, 23562 L¨ ubeck, Germany Correspondence should be addressed to Kirsten R. M¨ uller-Vahl; mueller-vahl.kirsten@mh-hannover.de Received 6 September 2013; Accepted 28 February 2014; Published 7 May 2014 Academic Editor: Andrea Romigi Copyright © 2014 Kirsten R. M¨ uller-Vahl et al. Tis is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Background. In the German movie “Vincent will Meer” a healthy actor portrays a man with Tourette’s syndrome. Objective. Te aim of this study was to investigate whether the performance of tics is convincing and whether this judgment depends on whether he/she sufers from tics or not. Methods. While the movie was broadcasted in German cinemas, we put an online survey (including 28 questions on diferent aspects related to the observation, performance, and authenticity of tics) on the web pages of the German self- help group. 276/296 surveys submitted could be used for further analyses. Results. 95.7% of all participants felt that the performance of tics was convincing. However, people with tics ( = 26) were less convinced compared to those who had never met a person with tics ( = 110)( = 0.020). Conclusions. Our results further support the hypothesis that tics are not “abnormal” but “physiological” movements that are only misplaced both in time and context. 1. Introduction In spring 2010 the movie “Vincent will Meer” by Ralf Huettner was broadcasted in German cinema. It tells the story about three antiheroes who met while being treated in a mental institution: Marie (portrayed by Karoline Herfurth) sufers from anorexia, Alexander (Johannes Allmayer) from obsessive-compulsive disorder, and Vincent (Florian David Fitz, who does not have tics but mimics them) from Tourette’s syndrome (TS). Afer Marie has stolen the director’s car, they embark on a journey to Italy. During this trip initial aversion turns into friendship. However, the director and Vincent’s father, a successful politician who has placed Vincent into the institution afer his mother’s death, follow them. Te movie not only comprises funny situations but also is thought- provoking and touching. Finally, the father not only fnds his son geographically but also is able and willing to accept him despite the TS and no longer considers him as a loser. We were interested in whether the performance of tics by a healthy actor is convincing and whether an observer’s judgment depends on whether he/she sufers from tics or not. 2. Methods For six weeks (2010-05-10 to 2010-06-18), we put an online survey on the web pages of the German self-help group (http://www.tourette.de, http://www.tourette-gesell- schaf.de). Subsequently several German flm web pages were linked to these sites. Te survey included 28 questions: 8 about the authenticity of the tic performance, 12 related to the fact whether the observation of Vincent’s “tics” induced new or—as the case may be—infuenced existing tics, and 8 general and personal questions (e.g., how people liked the movie, whether they have tics or know others with tics, gender, and age). Hindawi Publishing Corporation Behavioural Neurology Volume 2014, Article ID 893859, 3 pages http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2014/893859