Widely unknown and fascinating laughter facts are that rats laugh. chimps laugh and so do dogs. However, none of them laugh at jokes. They laugh when playing, the same way humans do to show that they are happy and to bond.
Fascinating laughter facts research indicates that Rats that played more, laughed more. The ones that laughed more preferred to be around other rats that laughed.There is evidence that human laughter evolved from play vocalization, a behavior seen in other mammals.
In humans, laughter has developed into an important emotional expression, used throughout many channels of communication.
<b>Rats laugh when they are tickled</b>
Rats when they are tickled and the more they play together, the more they laugh. Psychologist Jack Panksepp first observed laughing rats in the 1990's; he needed special equipment to hear it, as rats' laughs are very highly pitched.
<b>You're more likely to laugh around others - not because of jokes</b>
If you're laughing, you're far more likely to be surrounded by others, according to research by laughter expert Dr. Robert Provine. The critical laughter for most people is another person, not a joke or funny movie.
After observing 1200 people laughing in their natural environments, Dr. Provine and his team found that laughter followed jokes only about 10-20 percent of the time. Social laughter occurs 30 times more frequently than solitary laughter.
<b>You brain can detect fake laughter</b>
Professor Scott's research has shown that your brain can tell the difference between real or staged laughter. when you hear staged laughter, or deliberate laughter, it prompts more activity in your brain's anterior medical prefrontal cortex, which helps you understand other people's emotions.
<b>Laughter is contagious</b>
The saying "laugh and the whole world laughs with you" is more than just an expression. Laughter really is contagious! The sound of laughter triggers regions in the premotor cortical region of your brain, which is involved in moving your facial muscles to correspond with sound and prepare to join in.
<b>Jokes are funnier if you know the comedian</b>
Familiarity is a key part of humor and laughter, and research shows people find jokes told by famous comedians to be funnier than the same joke by someone the're not familiar with.
<b>Laughing burns calories</b>
Laughing raises both your energy expenditure and heart rate by about 10 to 20 percent. This means you could burn 10 to 40 calories by laughing 10 to 15 minutes. While this sounds good in theory, you'd have to laugh solidly for an hour or more for this calorie burning to have any meaningful effect.
<b>Laughing is good for your relationships</b>
Research shows that couples who use laughter and smile when discussing a touchy subject feel better in the immediacy and report higher levels of satisfaction in their relationship. They also tend to stay together longer.
<b>Laughter requires timing</b>
Laughter has a distinctive pattern. It rarely occurs in the middle of a sentence. Instead, laughter tends to occur at the end of sentences or during a break in speech, which suggests language is given the priority according to Dr, Robert Provine.
Comedians use the natural tendency for laughter to grow and fade to their advantage, and will leave spaces at the end of a sentence for the audience to fill in with laughter.
<b>Laughter is attractive</b>
Research by Dr. Robert Provine found that women laugh 126 percent more than men in cross-gender conversations, with men preferring to be the one prompting the laughter.
i a review of more than 3700 newspaper ads, Dr. Provine revealed that women were 63 percent more likely to mention laughter, including seeking a mate with a sense of humor, while men were more likely to offer a sense of humor in their ads.
<b>Some things can make virtually everyone laugh</b>
While there is no one joke that makes everyone laugh, professor Scott found that one of the best tools for making people laugh in her lab is a clip of people trying mot to laugh in a situation where it would be highly inappropriate to do so.