May 10, 2013

Google Logo Add Us On GoogleAdd SciAm

Ticklish laughter tickles your brain

By Susana Martinez-Conde

Join Our Community of Science Lovers!

This article was published in Scientific American’s former blog network and reflects the views of the author, not necessarily those of Scientific American

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Afghan_girls_from_Ghazni_province.jpg

 

Neuroscience can be lots of fun, but perhaps even more so when researchers study the brain’s Laughter Perception Network. This is no laughing matter: In a PloS One study out today, Dirk Wildgruber and his colleagues at three different universities in Germany and the UK, found that the brain responds differently to fMRI imaging of ticklish versus socially complex laughter (joyful and taunting laughter) areas of the brain.

You can try the different sounds files below (I recommend listening to the evil taunting cackle in particular).

On supporting science journalism

If you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.

Sound S1 (WAV).Exemplar of joyful laughter.

Sound S2 (WAV).Exemplar of tickling laughter.

Sound S3 (WAV).Exemplar of taunting laughter.

The authors concluded that different types of human laughter modulate connectivity in different, but partially overlapping brain regions.

I assume that none of the experimental participants suffered from gelotophobia. It’s not an irrational aversion to Italian ice cream, but the fear of being laughed at.

 

Susana Martinez-Conde is a professor of ophthalmology, neurology, and physiology and pharmacology at SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University in Brooklyn, N.Y. She is author of the Prisma Prize–winning Sleights of Mind, along with Stephen Macknik and Sandra Blakeslee, and of Champions of Illusion, along with Stephen Macknik.

More by Susana Martinez-Conde

It’s Time to Stand Up for Science

If you enjoyed this article, I’d like to ask for your support. Scientific American has served as an advocate for science and industry for 180 years, and right now may be the most critical moment in that two-century history.

I’ve been a Scientific American subscriber since I was 12 years old, and it helped shape the way I look at the world. SciAm always educates and delights me, and inspires a sense of awe for our vast, beautiful universe. I hope it does that for you, too.

If you subscribe to Scientific American, you help ensure that our coverage is centered on meaningful research and discovery; that we have the resources to report on the decisions that threaten labs across the U.S.; and that we support both budding and working scientists at a time when the value of science itself too often goes unrecognized.

In return, you get essential news, captivating podcasts, brilliant infographics, can't-miss newsletters, must-watch videos, challenging games, and the science world's best writing and reporting. You can even gift someone a subscription.

There has never been a more important time for us to stand up and show why science matters. I hope you’ll support us in that mission.

Thank you,

David M. Ewalt, Editor in Chief, Scientific American

Subscribe