Laughter, the strange sound the can cause a feeing of euphoria, pride, or embarrassment in every social situation. It is a common behavior in humans, one of the many things that bond us together. But how was it developed? Have we always had laughter, or was it an piece of evolution? Why did we start laughing? All these questions and more have a hypothesized answer, thanks to Pedro Marijuán and Jorge Navarro at the Instituto Aragonés de Ciencias de la Salud in Spain.
The scientific reasoning behind laughter:
The brain social hypothesis that the brain did not develop to improve hunting skills and environmental survival, but it evolved to fit the need for complex social behaviors. Once the agricultural revolution happened and are ancestors started living in one place instead of chasing all of their food, social behaviors started developing. Imagine being one of these people, building a shelter and planting crops. Other people start to build around you, then they need stuff that you have, and you need stuff they have. You guys trade, and as this happens more, social behavior is created.
But when you have, let's say, a group of ten people trying to communicate together. Some people are talking, and you want to show that you are participating and listening. So, what happens? Well, laughter happens. It's to signal your participation, which leads to stronger bonds being built among many the group.
A theory that Marijuán and Navarro have come up with is that laughter is analogous to blushing. When a person blushes, it's to relieve the excess flow of blood to the brain that happens during certain social situations, like your friends embarrassing you in front of your crush, or when you forget a line when acting on stage. Laughter is thought to be a similar situation, where so much intellectual momentum builds up and it needs to be released. Marijuán and Navarro think that this other mechanism is the channelling of excess cortical excitations to parts of the brain responsible for vocalisation.
In Laymen's Terms:
Hearing so much stuff in a conversation that excites certain parts of the brain leads to laughter, the moment when you want to respond but having nothing in particular to say. So, the development of social behavior is thought to be the key element in this situation, instead of physical evolution.
Of course, like many strange anomalies in this world, all of this is hypothesis until it can be tested. And when that will is still a mystery to scientists (as far as I know, since I'm not in the super cool scientist club).
So, if you ever find yourself laughing at a funeral or any other bad situation, just saying you're vocalizing your intellectual momentum. Or don't, because that's really weird.
