Understanding this primal form of communication is no laughing matter for scientists.
Laughter isn't dependent on a single sense but on social interactions.Tay Jir/Digital Vision
- Laughter is a primal form of communication that is not unique to humans.
- Only 10 to 15 percent of laughter is the result of someone making a joke.
- Laughter itself hasn't been proven to be the best medicine.
So a scientist walks into a shopping mall to watch people laugh.
There's no punchline. Laughter is a serious scientific subject, one that researchers are still trying to figure out.
Laughing is primal, our first way of communicating. Apes laugh. So do dogs and rats. Babies laugh long before they speak. No one teaches you how to laugh. You just do. And often you laugh involuntarily, in a specific rhythm and in certain spots in conversation.
You may laugh at a prank on April Fools' Day. But surprisingly, only 10 to 15 percent of laughter is the result of someone making a joke, said Baltimore neuroscientist Robert Provine, who has studied laughter for decades. Laughter is mostly about social responses rather than reaction to a joke.
0 comments:
Post a Comment