Laughter

"...Laughter functions primarily as a social lubricant......laughter is up to 30 times more likely to occur in a group than when we are alone. It also seems that human laughter produces a phenomenon called allomimesis ‐ in which the behaviour of individuals synchronises, and results in all reporting the same physiological and emotional sensations......if the participants are interested in one another, the frequency and emphasis of the male's body movements directly mirrored the amplitude and frequency of the female laughter. In turn, the more mirroring there was between their body movements and the female laughter, the more the males rated the experience as pleasure. In other words, laughter gets us "on the same wavelength"......laughter can defuse violence, promote group bonding..."

Robert Winston, 2003

. There are 3 areas of the brain involved in laughter

"...the frontal lobe assesses the situation and detects 'what's funny', the supplementary motor area produces necessary facial and vocal movements and the nucleus accumbens gives rise to the attendant feeling of pleasure......the normally functioning brain depends upon both hemispheres working in tandem ‐ left producing the emotion, and right producing the meaning ‐ for humour to work..."

Robert Winston, 2003