Why do we laugh

asks johnjo:
A. Laughing is not something you decide to do - it just happens unconsciously (try to laugh now and see how difficult it is to do it on demand).

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Q. What makes us laugh
A. It's not known how the brain produces laughter, but it can be triggered by lots of things.

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Q. Such as...
A. Robert Provine, an American professor of psychology and neuroscience, and author of a book about laughter, carried out a ten-year study of what makes people laugh. His conclusion is that laughter is not about humour but relationships.

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Q. How does he work that out
A. He and his researchers found that people tend to laugh after such everyday statements as, 'Hi, how are you ', 'How was your test ' or 'Do you have a rubber band '

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Not exactly stinging wit...
Exactly. Laughing after such statements, says Professor Provine, is a kind of 'social glue' that bonds relationships. Sharing a joke is essentially a form of social bonding and laughter is used as a message to the people around us.

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And laughing comes very naturally to us. Professor Provine also found that we don't interrupt speech to laugh: we just laugh during natural pauses where we would otherwise cough or breathe.

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Q. It's a good thing, then
A. Usually. You can't stop yourself laughing when you hear someone else doing it. However, there can be some negative reasons for laughing.

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Q. Such as
A. Laughter can exclude people, keeping them on the outside if they 'don't get the joke'. It can also establish an authority - who would dare not to laugh at the boss's jokes And it can be a nervous reaction to a tense situation (Just what do you find so funny, Simpkins )

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Q. Where does laughing come from
A. Experts believe it's something that evolved from the panting behaviour of primates. If you tickle a chimp or gorilla today, it would make a panting sound. That's where human laughter comes from.

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Q. How old are we before we can laugh
A. Babies are three and half to four months old before they start to laugh - that's much earlier than the ability to talk. Laughing, along with crying, is a great way for a baby to communicate with its mother.

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Q. Which age group laughs most
A. There are no statistics, but it's reckoned that young children laugh more than any other age group - probably because laughter is associated with play. And five and six year-olds tend to laugh the loudest!

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By Sheena Miller