Why do people laugh?

The biologist Dr. Doping speaks about the nature of laughter, humor and the origin of brain imaging.

Laughter is a type of expression of emotions and transfer them to others through facial expressions and characteristic rhythmic sounds. In laughter, in addition to the facial muscles, respiratory muscles are involved and vocal cords. Facial expressions - is evolutionarily earlier mode of communication in comparison with speech. It is and animals. The founder of evolutionary theory Charles Darwin especially interested in this question, dedicating him one of his works. Laughter has a special, elite place in the emotional experiences of the person. Laugh - it is not just an emotion, but also the result of intelligence, awareness of some unusual, paradoxical situation. It is believed that laughter originated from human ancestors about 7 million years ago. In addition to the human, only chimpanzees and rats can laugh. By the way, a man can not hear the rat laughter, because these sounds are ultrasonic field.

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The child begins to laugh a few months old, but he can cry at birth, and begins to speak, when he was somewhere around the year. This is due to the fact that laughter is a more complex experience than crying, but it's easier than it. The child begins to laugh when he realizes that, for example, "a terrible grimace," his mother just only a game, and in fact there is nothing wrong really.

Scientists distinguish between laughter and humor. Humor - it is much more recent acquisition of a man than a laugh, and it is based on a more subtle game of the mind, unexpected associations and connect seemingly incompatible,. So constructed, for example, the pun - verbal joke, when mixed similar in sound but different in meaning of the word (example from DD Minaev: "Girls who are below them, of course, not the bride"). The analysis of literature shows that humor came about three centuries ago. The classic German literature, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe humor attributed to "the highest manifestation of the human spirit."

What emotions transmits laughter as a means of communication? Of course, this is a manifestation of joy. Man tells people that it is good that he has found a solution to some difficult issues, and invites others to share his good mood. Laughter is very important to establish contact with the person or group of persons, sometimes with the audience. After all, if we laugh together, it means that we think the same way, we have common interests and share the same moral values. Laughter can acquire the character of malice when we laugh together a common enemy. Combining intelligence and emotions, laughter can be a powerful weapon, a demonstration of their courage and ability to resist evil.

It is recognized that laughing is good for health. Researchers from Oxford and Birmingham have found that laughter promotes fertility. After the procedure, in vitro fertilization a group of women entertained the clown, and the second to go home immediately. It was found that the percentage of those who have become mothers was significantly higher in women receiving "treatment laughter" (36% vs. 20% in controls).

Modern methods of live images of the brain (brain imaging), such as functional magnetic resonance imaging, and others, make it possible to determine the areas of the cerebral cortex, which are responsible for a laugh. Mostly they are located in the right hemisphere. Recall that the speech areas in the left hemisphere. Therefore, here it adds laughter. An important role is also played by the frontal cortex, responsible for abstraction, and limbic structures associated with emotion.