We have all experienced the “aha” moment when a joke suddenly makes sense, and scientists have long tried to figure out what happens in our brain during that crucial split second. Now a researcher at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor has found a window into that state of mind: the eyes.
Humor psychologist Richard Lewis (no relation to the comedian) was intrigued by past studies showing that a person’s pupils dilate in proportion to the funniness of a cartoon he or she is looking at. He took a closer look at this eye reflex by showing volunteers cartoons from the New Yorker magazine and using an eye-tracking device to monitor their pupil dilation and eye movements. The subjects’ pupils dilated about half a second after their gaze fell on the regions of a cartoon that were critical in making it funny—a period that is very similar to the time it takes our brain to derive meaning from words we read. “The nice thing about combining pupil dilation with eye tracking,” Lewis explains, “is that we can now pinpoint the ‘got it’ moment.”
Determining this moment with pupil dilation, which Lewis thinks is most likely a basic arousal response, could aid researchers who investigate humor-related brain activity with MRI or electroencephalography. So far scientists have found several brain areas, including the reward system, to be associated more generally with our sense of humor; it appears we do not have a distinct neurological funny bone.
But why do we have a sense of humor in the first place? According to Lewis, psychologists are just beginning to discover its relation to other cognitive processes that seemingly lie outside the realm of the funny, such as our ability to gauge the thoughts of others. “This is all part of looking at the state humor puts you and your brain in and how that affects other things you do,” Lewis says. “This will help us piece together the puzzle of what humor is for.”
See what we're tweeting about
3 Comments
Add CommentI believe the reason we have a sense of humor is so that we will enjoy watching our small children. From making funny faces to slapstick falling down to pointing out the blunt truth to using language almost, but not quite, correctly, children do funny things all the time. Getting pleasure out of parenting has obvious evolutionary benefits.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI had an experience with a gorilla that I believe laughed at me. I had been going regularly to the St. Louis zoo and I liked to watch the gorillas. They got used to me and recognized me when I showed up. I got in the habit of standing near the glass on the left side for about an hour.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisOne day, I was standing there and one of the females came sidling up to me, put her hand on the glass for a second and generally greeted me. The silverback noticed this and got up. He chewed on a piece of grass and ambled around toward the front of his enclosure. Then he headed back away from the glass at an angle, not looking at me, such that he passed about 8 feeat away from me. Suddenly he launched himself at the glass and slammed the glass with his fist right where my face was. I leaped back involuntarily. He bounced off the glass and went back to sit in his favorite spot.
He looked over at me, and I noticed that his belly was going up and down like he was laughing. He looked over at me several times, seeming to appreciate his joke on me.
A sense of humor is an interesting thing. I have seen a cat exhibit a sense of humor also once I think.
A tear drop shaped loop in the skin ridge pattern between and below the ring and little fingers on either or both hands indicates a person genetically inclined to be humorous,funny and even hilarious!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this