Robert Provine: the critical human importance of laughter, connections and contagion

Abstract

Robert Provine made several critically important contributions to science, and in this paper, we will elaborate some of his research into laughter and behavioural contagion. To do this, we will employ Provine's observational methods and use a recorded example of naturalistic laughter to frame our discussion of Provine's work. The laughter is from a cricket commentary broadcast by the British Broadcasting Corporation in 1991, in which Jonathan Agnew and Brian Johnston attempted to summarize that day's play, at one point becoming overwhelmed by laughter. We will use this laughter to demonstrate some of Provine's key points about laughter and contagious behaviour, and we will finish with some observations about the importance and implications of the differences between humans and other mammals in their use of contagious laughter. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Cracking the laugh code: laughter through the lens of biology, psychology and neuroscience’.

Autistic adults perceive and experience laughter differently to non-autistic adults

“…The contagious-laughter effect is strongly mediated by social contexts, such as the audience size and the intimacy/familiarity of the relationship 3 – 5 . Furthermore, contagious laughter is very likely to be unique to humans, as humans can provoke laughter and respond to others’ laughter in the absence of direct physical contact 6 .…”

“…On the other hand, genuine laughter might be governed by the older involuntary vocalisation network that operates through subcortical and brainstem structures. These include the amygdala, thalamic/hypo- and subthalamic areas, and the dorsal/tegmental brainstem 6 , 12 , 15 . While the perception of positive nonverbal vocalizations, including laughter, engages the oro-facial mirror networks —indicating a mechanism for mirroring others' emotional expressions—different neural responses have been observed to genuine and posed laughter 12 , 13 , 18 .…”

Mapping the differential impact of spontaneous and conversational laughter on brain and mind: an fMRI study in autism

“…2015 ). Although the production of laughter varies in the degree of volitional control and emotional content, much of the laughter that occurs naturally is likely to be a mix of both types ( Scott et al. 2022 ).…”

Cracking the laugh code: laughter through the lens of biology, psychology and neuroscience

“…Then four reviews frame laughter studies in the fields of anthropology (Dunbar [ 2 ]), ethology (Davila-Ross & Palagi [ 3 ]), psychology (Scott et al . [ 4 ]) and cross-cultural studies (Bryant & Bainbridge [ 5 ]). A second section is entirely dedicated to new empirical data, with studies tackling the issue of laughter in the fields of behavioural studies (Burke et al .…”

“…Then four reviews frame laughter studies in the fields of anthropology (Dunbar [ 2 ]), ethology (Davila-Ross & Palagi [ 3 ]), psychology (Scott et al . [ 4 ]) and cross-cultural studies (Bryant & Bainbridge [ 5 ]).…”