Comments on: BBC Column: What makes us laugh?

By: FSAP

FSAP — Wed, 31 Oct 2012 23:57:06 +0000

Yes, braintrigger’s, a little above my head but very well written. Who knew laughing was so complicated, but not so complicated if you know what I mean? Good read anyway.

By: B

Sat, 07 Jul 2012 17:47:30 +0000

It says that laughing comes from the same “apparatus” that is used for breathing and talking. I’m curious what part of the brain is being referred to and how this was determined. The idea that laughing enforces or detrimizes certain aspects of communication (speech or statements/ideas) is very interesting. If this behavior or mechanism of behavior is “innate”, it is curious to incorporate the idea that it is evokutionarily beneficial somehow. Possibly to communicate with fellow species or to show we are not aggressive at that time. Such as the smile… Not baring our incisors, but covering them with our lips (to show we are not aggressive)… Curious indeed

By: Shai-Hulud

Shai-Hulud — Thu, 21 Jun 2012 12:16:46 +0000

tbh just the thought/imagery of “a man tickling a gorilla” initiated a smirk/smile and the beginnings of a giggle.

By: amelie

amelie — Wed, 20 Jun 2012 17:50:59 +0000

Liked it. Not an easy topic to translate from the currently vague hypothesis. I’ve seen some annoying media articles claiming that non-primate animals have a “sense of humor”. While I think play is valid, we don’t even define humor outside of the primate world, so far as I can tell.

My former coworker had an especially convincing fake laugh and used it often for when people told not so funny jokes. (The laugh was not what you’d expect – it was slow, deliberate and understated).

By: Caspar Addyman

Caspar Addyman — Wed, 20 Jun 2012 17:02:13 +0000

Hi Tom,
I have a new project that will have a go at answering the question “How does laughter develop across lifespan?” The Baby Laughter project (http://babylaughter.net) will survey parents of babies and toddlers to see if there are developmental changes in what makes babies laugh at different ages.

The aims are two-fold. Firstly to see how laughter changes in those early years and secondly to see if those changes track other milestones in cognitive development. My hope is that we will find some evidence that babies laughter is a good index of what they understand about the world at different ages. You can’t laugh if you don’t get the joke. But I also expect to confirm the findings in the adult literature (Provine, 2000) that most laughter is primarily social in nature.

We just got ethical approval this week but there are a few more things to do before the survey launches. So watch this space.

All the best,
Caspar
Birkbeck Babylab
http://www.cbcd.bbk.ac.uk/

By: Dub1.ru

Dub1.ru — Wed, 20 Jun 2012 15:03:19 +0000

Internal paradoxes make people laugh

By: Tim Poston

Tim Poston — Wed, 20 Jun 2012 13:18:37 +0000

Different cultures use the laugh noise very differently: for Chinese, for instance, it’s often a kind of softening of what is said — takes a while for Westerners to adapt.

Monocultural research into laughter has small chance of separating the fundamentals from group conventions.

By: Reek

Reek — Wed, 20 Jun 2012 12:52:04 +0000

I can’t say that the Gorilla video made me laugh – I was nervous! Those guys are ridiculously strong and I was just waiting for him to accidentally snap the finger of the caretaker.