Pre-SMA activation and the perception of contagiousness and authenticity in laughter sounds

Abstract

Functional near-infrared spectroscopy and behavioural methods were used to examine the neural basis of the behavioural contagion and authenticity of laughter. We demonstrate that the processing of laughter sounds recruits networks previously shown to be related to empathy and auditory-motor mirror networks. Additionally, we found that the differences in the levels of activation in response to volitional and spontaneous laughter could predict an individual's perception of how contagious they found the laughter to be.

The naturalistic approach to laughter in humans and other animals: towards a unified theory

“…More closely in line with the hypothesis advanced by Provine, some of these regions are directly involved in the control of the emotional and motor aspects of laughter production, such as the pACC [49,78,81] and the pre-SMA [58,77,82]—suggesting the existence of a mirror mechanism specific for laughter of the kind foreseen by Provine [83,84]. According to the perception-action model [85–87], such a mechanism could be part of the neural machinery implementing laughter contagion.…”

“…Perceiving others' laughter activates a wide network of occipito-temporal (middle occipital gyrus, basal temporal, and auditory regions of the supratemporal plane), parietal (supramarginal gyrus), limbic (insula, amygdala) and frontal (pACC, pre-SMA, anterior medial prefrontal cortex (amPFC), orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) and inferior frontal gyrus) regions ( [49,[73][74][75][76][77][78][79], see also [80]). Such a distributed processingencompassing sensory, motor, and cognitive areas-is telling of the complexity and richness of information conveyed by this stimulus.…”

Hearing Someone Laugh and Seeing Someone Yawn: Modality-Specific Contagion of Laughter and Yawning in the Absence of Others

“…Moreover, the neuronal underpinning for contagious laughter and yawning corroborate this latter point: both recruit brain networks implied in empathy, i.e., the mirror neuron system ( di Pellegrino et al, 1992 ; Platek et al, 2003 , 2005 ; Arnott et al, 2009 ; Haker et al, 2013 ; McGettigan et al, 2015 ). Interestingly, the auditory mirror neuron system in particular contributes to contagious laughter ( Billing et al, 2021 ), which can be an explanation for why laughter is particularly contagious in the auditory modality.…”

“…Finally, the interplay of lower and higher brain areas in production and perception of laughter and the role of the auditory mirror-neuron system in its contagion support its social-emotional-communicative role: laughter production involves brain stem centers for emotional vocalizations (PAG, upper reticular formation) that receive input from cortex and hypothalamus ( Wild et al, 2003 ; Wattendorf et al, 2013 ). Laughter perception on the other hand recruits peri-motor areas (PMC, SMA, pre-SMA) and prefrontal regions in amPFC which are also involved in mirroring and mentalizing ( McGettigan et al, 2015 ; Billing et al, 2021 ). Indeed, there is a mirroring mechanism that maps laughter perception onto (emotional) laughter production ( Caruana et al, 2020 ), and recent evidence suggests that activity in a network implied in empathy and auditory-motor mirroring varies with the degree of laughter contagion ( Billing et al, 2021 ).…”

“…Laughter perception on the other hand recruits peri-motor areas (PMC, SMA, pre-SMA) and prefrontal regions in amPFC which are also involved in mirroring and mentalizing ( McGettigan et al, 2015 ; Billing et al, 2021 ). Indeed, there is a mirroring mechanism that maps laughter perception onto (emotional) laughter production ( Caruana et al, 2020 ), and recent evidence suggests that activity in a network implied in empathy and auditory-motor mirroring varies with the degree of laughter contagion ( Billing et al, 2021 ). Interestingly, insular cortex is crucial for the production of both speech ( Dronkers, 1996 ) and laughter ( Wattendorf et al, 2016 ).…”