Mini-lecture: The neuroscience of laughter (UCL)

Summary

Professor Sophie Scott, a Cognitive Neuroscientist at UCL, explores how the brain processes communication, including speech and emotional sounds like laughter. Her research delves into the social role of laughter, its evolutionary roots, and its universality across cultures. She highlights its contagious nature, with the brain preparing to mimic laughter when heard, even in a scanning environment. Additionally, Scott investigates how the brain distinguishes between real and fake laughter, emphasizing its importance in both human interaction and emotional expression. The study bridges evolutionary biology and neuroscience in understanding human emotions.

Takeaways

• 😀 Sophie Scott is a professor of Cognitive Neuroscience at UCL, and a Wellcome Trust Senior Fellow, focusing on how the human brain processes communication.
• 😀 Her research examines how the brain deals with speech, speech output control, and emotional vocalizations like laughter.
• 😀 Laughter plays a significant role in human communication, differing from other emotions such as fear or disgust.
• 😀 Unlike fear or disgust, laughter often triggers a social response, where others may laugh along even without knowing the reason.
• 😀 Laughter is universal, recognized across cultures, such as between European and Himba tribe members in Namibia.
• 😀 Other animals, such as chimpanzees and even rats, can laugh, indicating laughter has deep evolutionary roots.
• 😀 Laughter in humans emerges in infancy around 6-8 weeks, typically triggered by tickling, creating strong bonds between infants and caregivers.
• 😀 As individuals grow, laughter becomes part of a broader social context beyond tickling.
• 😀 Brain studies show that emotional sounds like laughter activate areas related to movement and sound production, even when the person is silent.
• 😀 The brain shows a stronger response to laughter compared to other emotional sounds, indicating laughter’s contagious nature.
• 😀 Future research aims to explore how the brain differentiates between real and fake laughter, as humans are particularly adept at distinguishing the two.

Q & A

What is the focus of Sophie's research in cognitive neuroscience?

Sophie's research focuses on understanding how the human brain processes communication, including how it deals with hearing speech, controlling speech output, and responding to non-verbal emotional expressions like laughter.

How does the brain respond to non-speech sounds, like laughter, compared to speech?

The brain responds to non-speech sounds like laughter in a very distinct way, as these sounds are more akin to animal calls than speech. The brain engages in different neural processes to handle such sounds, which is a point of interest in Sophie's research.

Why is laughter particularly interesting in Sophie Scott's research?

Laughter is particularly interesting because it plays a significant social role, distinguishing it from other basic emotions like fear, disgust, and anger. It has a contagious nature and an evolutionary link to social bonding, which Sophie is investigating.

How does laughter differ from other classic emotions like fear or disgust?

Unlike fear or disgust, which are often linked to immediate reactions to environmental threats, laughter has a social function. It tends to be contagious, meaning people often laugh along with others without understanding the reason, which is more about human connection.

What did Disa Sauter's research find about laughter across cultures?

Disa Sauter's research found that laughter is recognized universally across different cultures. For instance, people from the Himba tribe in northern Namibia can recognize laughter from Europeans and vice versa.

Is laughter unique to humans, or do other animals also laugh?

Laughter is not unique to humans. It is found in other animals, such as chimpanzees and even rats, which produce laughter-like sounds when tickled.

What is the first emergence of laughter in humans?

The first emergence of laughter in humans occurs in infants around 6-8 weeks old, typically triggered by being tickled. This early laughter is strongly linked to bonding with caregivers.

What part of the brain is activated when people listen to emotional sounds like laughter?

When people listen to emotional sounds like laughter, areas of the brain related to auditory processing are activated. Additionally, regions related to producing movement or sounds, such as facial expressions, are also engaged, even if the person is not actively making the sound themselves.

Why does laughter have a particularly strong effect on the brain when compared to other emotional sounds?

Laughter has a strong effect because it triggers a contagious behavioral response. The brain prepares the body to laugh even when the person is just listening to laughter, which is a key feature of laughter's social role.

What is the next area of study in Sophie Scott's research on laughter?

Sophie Scott's next area of study is understanding how the brain differentiates between real laughter and posed laughter, as people are typically very good at recognizing these differences.