# Where does laughter come from? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 7, 2001, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-does-laughter-come-from/64677 "2001-05-07T19:37:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![NHL7890](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c4cdca/32.png) [@NHL7890](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NHL7890)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2001, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-does-laughter-come-from/64677/1 "2001-05-07T19:37:51Z")
Hey I was wondering if anybody knew where laughter comes like what causes it to happen, and did it serve a different purpose at some point in time? ---
**Author:** ![Morrison\_s\_Lament](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Morrison\_s\_Lament](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morrison_s_Lament)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2001, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-does-laughter-come-from/64677/2 "2001-05-07T20:01:38Z")
It comes from the heart son, it comes from the heart 😃 Bad jokes aside, I think the question we need to start with is “where does humor come from”, as laughter is mainly produced by perceiving events or objects as amusing or funny. Possibly this was a reaction to man’s encounter with the platypus, but that still doesn’t account for the presence of laughter outside the Australian continent. Damn it, and I was gonna put bad jokes aside… ☹ — G. Raven ---
**Author:** ![Bob\_Scene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19adc/32.png) [@Bob\_Scene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bob_Scene)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2001, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-does-laughter-come-from/64677/3 "2001-05-08T01:19:11Z")
According to some speculation I once read by Desmond Morris, who should be taken with a grain of salt, laughter is sort of a half-fear reaction. It’s related, he said, to the crying reflex that babies have, but it’s triggered by a weaker stimulus. Something that’s funny, he said, is unexpected enough to get our attention, but not quite scary enough to make us cry. Laughter and crying do seem to have something in common. I’ve also read speculation (Douglas R. Hofstadter, for example) that humor and music are “epiphenomena,” or side-effects, of the mechanisms that give rise to consciousness, and are therefore currently beyond our understanding. This idea is not incompatible with Desmond Morris’s. ---
**Author:** ![furryman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/furryman/32/99_2.png) [@furryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furryman)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2001, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-does-laughter-come-from/64677/4 "2001-05-08T15:50:06Z")
It comes from the Land of Laughs. 🙂 Thanx to Johnathan Carroll. ---
**Author:** ![RiffRaff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/cdc98d/32.png) [@RiffRaff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RiffRaff)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2001, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-does-laughter-come-from/64677/5 "2001-05-09T02:23:52Z")
laughter can come from many places it can come from a story retold or sweet revenge extolled it can come from across the room or from a special mushroom (so i hear) it can come from a sidelong glance or a glimpse of underpants (remember that time that she tucked her shirt in one layer too far, and she was wearin’ them red stripey undergarments and they were all ridin’ up and we coulda told her but instead we just laughed and laughed and laughed\*… remember? remember? oh wait, none of you were there. never mind.) it can come from a friend’s bad joke or a lovers stroke it can come from the joy of success or a dog in a dress but the best stuff, the best laughter comes directly from the bellybutton (well i think so anyway) -riffraff \*incident did not really happen. underpants in question referenced for purposes of rhyme only. ---
**Author:** ![anenquiringmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/54ee81/32.png) [@anenquiringmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anenquiringmind)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2001, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-does-laughter-come-from/64677/6 "2001-05-09T04:37:49Z")
I was just wondering the same thing, plus my main question was… What exactly is it that makes you STOP laughing? Sometimes you stop laughing real sudden and the urge is gone in a heartbeat and sometimes it carries on for quite awhile… Weird, but I LOVE IT and will take it anyway I can get it ---
**Author:** ![rjk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ed655f/32.png) [@rjk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjk)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2001, 7:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-does-laughter-come-from/64677/7 "2001-05-09T07:21:04Z")
I recall reading somewhere a long time ago (sorry, no cite) that some researchers took EEGs of people listening to jokes. They found a little glitch in the readings whenever the subject got a joke, and attributed it to the brain “shifting gears”, seeing the alternative funny interpretation of the story. Of course, that means that if you miss a shift, you die laughing. ---
**Author:** ![Xerxes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/d2c977/32.png) [@Xerxes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xerxes)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2001, 9:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-does-laughter-come-from/64677/8 "2001-05-09T09:17:53Z")
I saw a documentary a couple of years ago about a team of doctors researching a patient who had a rare form of epilepsy. They had a setup of electrodes on the woman’s head, some for recording, some for stimulating. Apparently after some hours (of moving the electrodes around) they accidentally hit a spot where, with mild stimulation, this woman would belly-laugh at anything the researchers said (which was patently not funny). After turning off the (very mild) current, they asked her if she remembered the experience. “Sure” she replied. Then they asked her why she laughed at the non-funny sentences. “Because they were funny”. She (naturally) couldn’t explain why she didn’t find them funny with the juice off. Not sure what the point of this is, but wonder if it wouldn’t be great to have control of my own personal electrode. Or better yet, my boss’s…