Laughter Actually Is Contagious

I'm sure we are all familiar with the term "Laughter is contagious",
new evidence shows that the saying is actually true.

If you see two people laughing at a joke you didn’t hear, chances
are you will smile anyway—even if you don’t realize it.

According to a new study, laughter truly is contagious: the brain
responds to the sound of laughter and preps the muscles in the
face to join in the mirth.

“It seems that it’s absolutely true that ‘laugh and the whole world
laughs with you,” said Sophie Scott, a neuroscientist at the
University College London.
“We’ve known for some time that when we are talking to someone,
we often mirror their behavior, copying the words they use and
mimicking their gestures.
Now we’ve shown that the same appears to apply to laughter, too
at least at the level of the brain.”


SOURCE:
LiveScience.com

This is one of those things that both surprised me, and did'nt
surprise me at the same time.

I myself have experienced this (to my own dismay) multiple
times in the past, so it's not something that I, nor anyone
really should be unfailiar with.

I found it interesting that it was noted that laughter may well
have been precursor to human language itself.


Comments, Opinions?

[edit on 12/12/2006 by iori_komei]

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[edit on 13/12/2006 by Mirthful Me]

Originally posted by iori_komei

Some scientists think human ancestors may have laughed in
groups before they could speak and that laughter may have
been a precursor to language.
SOURCE:
LiveScience.com

It's funny just imagining that A bunch of cavemen just standing around and laughing.

How about yawning? I think that is also contagious..

[edit on 12-12-2006 by juicebox]

Originally posted by juicebox
It's funny just imagining that

A bunch of cavemen just standing around and laughing.

How about yawning? I think they are also contagious.

I would think that the same mechanism would apply to yawning as well.

But also one thing I do know seeing these --->

I wonder what the evolutionary drive for these behaviors was? For example: when someone vomits, everyone else around them feels like puking too, because the original vomiter probably ate something poisonous that the rest ate, too, and thus it would be conducive to survival to react to this by vomiting out the poisonous food yourself before it starts affecting you also.

Edit: accidental double post

[edit on 19-12-2006 by the_individualist]