 Also, instances of many being shy may imply that the "jumper" was positively reinforced by the sudden attention as the entertainment for a group.In 1885, Georges Gilles de la Tourette included Jumping Frenchmen syndrome in the typology of "convulsive tic illness"; studies of the condition in the 1980s cast doubt on whether the phenomenon was in fact a physical condition similar to Tourette syndrome.Documentation of direct observation of "Jumping Frenchmen" has been scarce, and while videotape evidence was recorded by several researchers that showed the condition to be real, MH and JM Saint-Hilaire concluded from studying eight affected people that it was brought on by conditions at their lumber camps and was psychological, not neurological.