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Published on: June 14, 2019
Modulation of humor ratings of bad jokes by other people's laughter
Qing Cai1, Sinead Chen1, Sarah J White1
1Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London, 17 Queen Square, London WC1N 3AZ, UK.
Abstract:
Laughter is a positive vocal emotional expression: most laughter is found in social interactions [1]. We are overwhelmingly more likely to laugh when we are with other people [1], and laughter can play a very important communicative role [2]. We do of course also laugh at humor - but can laughter influence how funny we actually perceive the humorous material to be? In this study, we show that the presence of laughter enhances how funny people find jokes and that this effect is increased for spontaneous laughter. This effect was present for both neurotypical and autistic participants, indicating similarities in their implicit processing of laughter.
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