{"id":2405,"date":"2023-06-15T11:20:45","date_gmt":"2023-06-15T11:20:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/horizon.peachpuff-wolverine-566518.hostingersite.com\/?p=2405"},"modified":"2023-06-15T11:20:45","modified_gmt":"2023-06-15T11:20:45","slug":"time-to-take-laughter-seriously","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/2405\/time-to-take-laughter-seriously\/","title":{"rendered":"Time to take laughter seriously"},"content":{"rendered":"

While people the world over enjoy a good laugh, remarkably little is known about this instinctive behaviour.<\/p>\n

By Ali Jones<\/p>\n

Before babies can talk or walk, they can laugh. An infant\u2019s first giggle at around four months enchants and reinvigorates even the most weary parent and, from then on, it\u2019s a lifelong tool for communicating with the world.<\/p>\n

Laughter is a social glue that binds people together, helping to navigate and smooth all manner of experiences and encounters. Yet there\u2019s very little science on how this works.<\/p>\n

Positive vibes<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2018Laughter is so central to our human experience of coordinating and interacting with other people, but we don\u2019t know much about it,\u2019 said Stefanie H\u00f6hl, a professor of developmental psychology at the University of Vienna in Austria.<\/p>\n

H\u00f6hl is working on the Laughing Together<\/a>\u00a0project, one of two EU-funded studies bringing a new focus to the subject of happiness.<\/p>\n

In psychology and neuroscience research, laughter has been overshadowed by the pressing medical need to study negative emotions that affect mental health such as anxiety and fear.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a clinical requirement to understand more about these emotions to be able to treat patients effectively.<\/p>\n

\u2018Positive emotions, like laughter, are not so well researched because their societal and clinical impact are not as immediate,\u2019 said Dr Carolina Pletti, a researcher at the University of Vienna. \u2018Yet if we want to increase people\u2019s well-being, we must increase the positive as well as reduce the negative.\u2019<\/p>\n

Laughter\u2019s ability to break the ice and pave the way to social bonding is easy enough to grasp. It releases endorphins in the body that give a warm feel-good factor. Who doesn\u2019t feel better after an evening of laughing with friends?<\/p>\n

It\u2019s the goings-on inside the brain that Pletti and H\u00f6hl want to know more about in the two-year project, which runs until March 2024.<\/p>\n

Twice the laughs<\/strong><\/p>\n

The two experts are pairing up volunteers to observe their brain activity when both laugh at something at the same time, employing some of YouTube\u2019s most amusing animal antics to provide the entertainment.<\/p>\n

Brain activity is rhythmic. Speech and music are already known to help synchronise brain rhythms between people.<\/p>\n

When two minds tune in to the same wavelength, they process information more quickly. The result is that communication is smoother and interaction and cooperation are facilitated.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s the first time that researchers have looked at the dynamics of two brains interacting in real time and at the impact of laughter \u2013 for both adults and children.<\/p>\n

\u2018We think that laughter might be really conducive to bringing people\u2019s brains onto the same wavelength,\u2019 said H\u00f6hl. \u2018It\u2019s really a social signal and, in research terms, it\u2019s the missing piece of the puzzle.\u2019<\/p>\n

Brain-imaging technology, worn like a swimming cap, is capturing brain activity while participants watch funny videos, laugh over a silly word game and interact freely. It\u2019s this final phase that shows whether laughter can stimulate brain synchrony.<\/p>\n

Test surprise<\/strong><\/p>\n

Early results for the adult experiments include a surprise.<\/p>\n

Yes, laughing together does enhance neural synchrony, but the unexpected catch is: not for long. The researchers are finding a five-minute window where people are tuned in to each other\u2019s brain rhythms before the effect is lost.<\/p>\n

The researchers will explore the impact of personality and hope to extend the study to include testing what happens when people already know each other. Future research might also ask what can be done to extend this sweet spot of synchronicity.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the researchers are turning their attention to the study of children, making them laugh with funny animal videos or cartoons, and then assessing what happens to their brain activity when they cooperate on a game.<\/p>\n

This separate study is one of the very few to look at how pre-schoolers interact with each other and at the processes of cooperation and brain synchrony.<\/p>\n

If they find that laughing together encourages positive behaviour, helping children to get along, the researchers say laughter could one day become an education technique in schools \u2013 and could be applied to the adult world of work too.<\/p>\n

Emotional spectrum<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Positive Emotions Project<\/a>, or PEP, has focused on 17 of them \u2013 including gratitude, awe, amusement, compassion and relief\u00a0\u2013 that lack detailed and coordinated study.<\/p>\n

The six-year initiative ends this coming August and is led by Dr Disa Sauter, social psychologist at the University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands.<\/p>\n

The project has involved collaboration with more than 60 researchers worldwide. It has analysed the thoughts and feelings of more than 30\u00a0000 people globally to compare different kinds of positive emotional experiences.<\/p>\n

\u2018The overarching goal of the project is to study positive emotion with much more granularity,\u2019 said Sauter. \u2018It\u2019s just been called \u201chappiness\u201d, but we are taking a wider perspective to see whether different types of positive emotions might work differently.\u2019<\/p>\n

Memory lanes<\/strong><\/p>\n

As well as studying facial expressions and the social norms that surround how and when people display positive emotions, the project has made vocalisation a key strand.<\/p>\n

The researchers invited participants to talk about happy memories and mapped their facial expressions and laughter.<\/p>\n

In the long run, a detailed understanding of how people look and sound when they experience different emotions could help work with people who can\u2019t communicate using words, including babies and young children.<\/p>\n

These findings could also be helpful for people who sometimes struggle with the communication of emotions, including people on the autism spectrum and those with dementia.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a project to map uncharted territory in human emotion in different cultures. In time, the results could become a valuable resource for developing technologies to support the communication of human emotions.<\/p>\n

Never dull<\/strong><\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Sauter and Pletti are in no doubt about the contagious qualities and inherent benefits of laughter.<\/p>\n

\u2018People don\u2019t need a lot of encouragement to laugh,\u2019 said Sauter.<\/p>\n

Pletti drove home the point by referring to another surprise in her project: study scenarios designed to limit the likelihood of generating laughter by participants failed to do so.<\/p>\n

\u2018Even when you give people a very dull task \u2013 like working on an instruction manual \u2013 they\u2019ll try to come up with funny things to make the situation less uncomfortable and they\u2019ll laugh anyway,\u2019 she said. \u2018It\u2019s almost impossible to banish it completely.\u2019<\/p>\n

This article was originally published\u202fin <\/em>Horizon<\/em><\/a>, the EU Research and Innovation Magazine.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

While people the world over enjoy a good laugh, remarkably little is known about this instinctive behaviour. By Ali Jones Before babies can talk or walk, they can laugh. An infant\u2019s first giggle at around four months enchants and reinvigorates even the most weary parent and, from then on, it\u2019s a lifelong tool for communicating … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":298,"featured_media":2406,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"generate_page_header":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2405","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-brain-behavior","category-health"],"yoast_head":"\nTime to take laughter seriously - Horizon Magazine Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/2405\/time-to-take-laughter-seriously\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Time to take laughter seriously\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"While people the world over enjoy a good laugh, remarkably little is known about this instinctive behaviour. 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It demonstrated the link between engagement with the natural world and social activism. \u00a0 In the 18th century, birdwatching (or ornithology) was mostly an\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Earth, Energy & Environment"","block_context":{"text":"Earth, Energy & Environment","link":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/category\/earth-energy-environment\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2022\/04\/apr9.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2022\/04\/apr9.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2022\/04\/apr9.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2022\/04\/apr9.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2022\/04\/apr9.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2949,"url":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/2949\/get-your-dancing-shoes-on-ai-and-virtual-reality-team-up-to-bring-the-party-to-you\/","url_meta":{"origin":2405,"position":2},"title":"Get your dancing shoes on! AI and virtual reality team up to bring the party to you","author":"Horizon Magazine","date":"December 27, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Staying home to dance the night away may soon be the next big thing. EU-funded researchers are using AI to create an online dancefloor for the whole world to share. 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Increasingly, studies are looking at how the domestic dog,\u00a0Canis familiaris,\u00a0is key to understanding cognition and processes involved in ageing \u2013 something that could improve both animal and human wellbeing. \u2018In recent years, the dog has\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Earth, Energy & Environment"","block_context":{"text":"Earth, Energy & Environment","link":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/category\/earth-energy-environment\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2021\/02\/alvan-nee-FHl79chXS6s-unsplash-scaled.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2021\/02\/alvan-nee-FHl79chXS6s-unsplash-scaled.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2021\/02\/alvan-nee-FHl79chXS6s-unsplash-scaled.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2021\/02\/alvan-nee-FHl79chXS6s-unsplash-scaled.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2021\/02\/alvan-nee-FHl79chXS6s-unsplash-scaled.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2021\/02\/alvan-nee-FHl79chXS6s-unsplash-scaled.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1768,"url":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/1768\/cities-that-connect-people-and-nature-are-a-post-pandemic-priority-conference-hears\/","url_meta":{"origin":2405,"position":5},"title":"Cities that connect people and nature are a post-pandemic priority, conference hears","author":"Horizon Magazine","date":"June 25, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Care homes that let people age with integrity, green kindergartens and community centres that bring together people of all ages were some of the visions for how to build a better Europe presented by citizens from Estonia, Bulgaria and Poland on 24 June at the European Commission\u2019s annual flagship research\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Earth, Energy & Environment"","block_context":{"text":"Earth, Energy & Environment","link":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/category\/earth-energy-environment\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2021\/06\/fas-khan-zydtqCd0T3w-unsplash.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2021\/06\/fas-khan-zydtqCd0T3w-unsplash.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2021\/06\/fas-khan-zydtqCd0T3w-unsplash.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2021\/06\/fas-khan-zydtqCd0T3w-unsplash.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2021\/06\/fas-khan-zydtqCd0T3w-unsplash.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2021\/06\/fas-khan-zydtqCd0T3w-unsplash.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2405","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/298"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2405"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2405\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2406"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2405"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2405"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2405"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}