You'd think that with something as simple as laughter, there isn't much to learn about it. Yet there is, and there's even a discipline that studies laughter, humor, and all things comedy – gelotology. Apparently, it's been around since the 1960s, and effects similar to athletic exercise have been known even then.
One of the first people to study gelotology, William F. Fry, a Professor Emeritus at Stanford University, noted how it works on several body systems. "Muscles are activated, heart rate is increased, respiration is simplified with increase in oxygen exchange – all similar to the desirable effects of athletic exercise."
Laughing is one of the first things we learn as babies – we begin to chuckle and laugh long before we utter our first words. Interestingly, it has been the same way historically. Evolution researchers say that we started laughing more than 10 million years ago. As for speech, it's possible that we started speaking some 70,000 years ago.
Some scientists suggest that where laughter is concerned, we're similar to our older ancestors – the chimps. For them, laughing is a non-verbal way of communicating in safe and playful environments. Jennifer Ireland, curator of mammals at the North Carolina Zoo, explains that when chimpanzees laugh, there has to be some sort of physical contact.
"They will tickle each other. They'll pinch each other. They'll wrestle each other. So they are laughing all the time when there's that type of physical contact."
For humans, laughter also signals safety. We're 30 times more likely to laugh in the company of others. And tickling is notable here: no animal can tickle itself, so, it's inherently social. By emitting laughter sounds, we let our playmates know that we're just playing around and don't want any fights.
"[Laughter] serves as a way of getting everyone on the same page," Clayton State University biologist Jared Taglialatela told WIRED. "Secondly, it serves as a way for individuals to inform their social partners about their intentions, as well as provide information and feedback about their own emotional state."
Laughter can also be quite cerebral. Chuckles activate our prefrontal cortex, which we use to understand context and content. To fully comprehend a joke or a meme, we have to turn on our cognitive functions. First, we have to understand the language we're reading, and that activates our temporal lobe. To understand the joke's content, we use the frontal lobe.
What do you think about these funny pics, Pandas? How much brain work did you need to understand them? Or were they perfect for a casual, light-hearted laugh? Let us know in the comments! And while you're here, don't forget to check out other memes about the life of rednecks and funny posts for literature nerds!
