We’ve all been in the situation sitting around with a group of friends when, in the middle of a conversation, the person speaking is interrupted with a chuckle that is then followed by an almost synchronized echo of laughter and giggles. Laughter is always something that has interested me. Broadly speaking, laughter seems like a simple topic. For example, you friend tells you a funny story about the weekend prior and you begin to smile which turns into a laugh. However, I find the science behind humor and laughter to be a very interesting field. To begin to study the action of laughter we must take a deeper look into our brains and see what are the triggers that cause us to laugh. Tom Strafford states in an article by BBC that deep in the subcortex of our brain is where laughter is triggered. He goes onto state that in terms of evolution, the subcortex part of our brain has seen little change since archaic times. This means that the part of our brain that produces laughter is the same that the neanderthals, or cavemen had. He also states that the area in which laughter is controlled is much deeper within our brains than the more complex areas that control “language” or “memory.” Strafford explains that this could be why it is so hard to control laughter because the other complex areas are not able to interfere with laughter. 

With all of this information on how and why the brain functions the way that it does. Scientists cannot figure out what exactly makes a person laugh. With that being said, we are still able to collect a lot of interesting information on the brain and laugher. Sophie Scott, who works at the anechoic chamber of University College London, did multiple studies on people’s laugher. She would call in groups of friends and would conduct studies on the reactions when one of the participants in the group said or did something funny. One example of the study is the connection between two people when one person is laughing. For instance, you are clicking through the internet when you come across a video of a baby crying. A majority of the people watching will instantly start to laugh. This can also be seen through the “Skype laughter chain” that was discussed in the article. The chain consists of a people laughing solely because the person saw someone else laugh. I find this extremely interesting because typically people need to look or hear at something more complex to elicit a laugh. However, as proven by Scott, it truly only takes the connection to another person’s laughter to make someone laugh. Another study done by Scott was based around the word shadenfreude, which means “harm-joy.” This type of humor is the type where you watch someone slip and wipe out, causing you to laugh. That is what Scott did when she showed the video of a man jumping into a pool of ice that did not break, causing the man to wipe.

Laughter can change the darkest mood someone may have and turn it into a bright, cheerful mood in the matter of a second. Science’s improvements in the cognitive field is something I feel is important. Not only is the topic extremely interesting with many unanswered questions, but I thinkThis is because I believe that the more we study what makes us laugh, we’ll be able to find out what makes us happier as a person.

Sources:

http://ideas.ted.com/how-scientists-make-people-laugh-to-study-humor/

http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20120601-what-makes-us-laugh