Laughter gains access to awareness at the threshold of consciousness

Emotional stimuli can influence behavior across varying levels of conscious awareness, yet the extent to which different social signals gain access to awareness remains unclear. Although unconscious processing has been extensively investigated for threat-related expressions, less is known about the awareness dynamics of socio-emotional signals such as laughter. The present study examined whether dynamic laughter expressions differ from crying and neutral facial expressions in their access to visual awareness. Across two experiments, participants viewed dynamic facial stimuli rendered invisible using Continuous Flash Suppression and reported stimulus category and subjective visibility using the Perceptual Awareness Scale. Processing at reduced levels of awareness was assessed using discrimination sensitivity as a function of reported visibility. In Experiment 1, laughter expressions were more likely than crying expressions to overcome visual suppression, with discrimination performance increasing at intermediate awareness levels. Experiment 2 included neutral expressions to control Type-1 and Type-2 response biases and revealed a graded pattern of suppression resistance, with neutral expressions showing the strongest suppression, crying expressions intermediate resistance, and laughter expressions the weakest suppression resistance. Through both experiments, laughter gained access to awareness more readily than crying or neutral expressions, particularly at the transition between minimal awareness and conscious perception. These findings suggest that socially relevant emotional signals differ in their thresholds for conscious access and highlight laughter as a signal that is prioritized when perceptual awareness is limited.