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Related Experiment Videos

Laughter and the mesial and lateral premotor cortex.

J J Schmitt1, J Janszky, F Woermann

  • 1Department of Presurgical Evaluation, Epilepsy Center Bethel, Maraweg 21, 33617 Bielefeld, Germany. jsh@gmx.org

Epilepsy & Behavior : E&B
|May 6, 2006
PubMed
Summary

Electrical stimulation of the frontal lobe in two patients induced laughter and smiling. Researchers identified the anterior supplementary sensorimotor area/lateral premotor cortex as crucial for generating laughter.

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Area of Science:

  • Neuroscience
  • Neurology
  • Neurosurgery

Background:

  • Presurgical epilepsy evaluation often involves invasive electrophysiological monitoring.
  • Subdural grid electrodes are used to map cortical function and identify seizure foci.

Observation:

  • Cortical electrical stimulation was applied to the frontal lobe in an infant and an adult patient undergoing epilepsy surgery.
  • Stimulation of the prefrontal cortex in both patients reproducibly induced laughter and smiling.

Findings:

  • Laughter was elicited by stimulating the lateral prefrontal cortex in the child and the anterior supplementary sensorimotor area (SSMA) in the adult.
  • The adult patient reported no associated emotional experience during laughter induction.
  • Speech slowing was observed with stimulation in adjacent cortical areas.

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Implications:

  • This study implicates the anterior SSMA/lateral premotor cortex in the generation of the motor aspects of laughter.
  • Understanding the neural basis of laughter can inform research into neurological disorders affecting social interaction and emotion.
  • These findings contribute to the functional mapping of the human frontal lobe.