What is happiness? And how do we get more of it? Visiting leading figures…
A Natural History of Laughter
- Description
- Reviews
- Citation
- Cataloging
- Transcript
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For how long have we been laughing? Are human beings the only ones to laugh? In the past, scientists tended to neglect such questions of laughter, leaving them to the philosophers. Jacques Mitsch's A NATURAL HISTORY OF LAUGHTER explores recent scientific attempts to explicate this most elusive of human faculties, undertaken by scientists who see it as a means of approaching some of the larger mysteries of neurology and human behavior.
The investigation begins in the United States with Robert Provine, a neuroscientist and psychologist at the University of Maryland who has devoted his career to the study of the evolution of human laughter and the neural mechanisms that produce it. We follow Provine into the classroom, the lab, and finally, the field - in this case, a college cafeteria - as he explains what his studies of laughter have revealed about the human brain.
But laughter did not begin with humans. The film burrows deeper into its evolutionary origins with Dutch ethologist Jan Van Hoof, another pioneer of the laughter sciences. Van Hoof takes us inside his chimpanzee observation cabin to witness his behavioral experiments with the primates, showing us how he determined what constitutes chimpanzee laughter, and how he distinguishes between different vocalizations and facial expressions.
From these discipline-defining studies, A NATURAL HISTORY OF LAUGHTER expands outwards as Mitsch's scientist subjects track the broader implications of their findings. They leave us with a series of suggestive questions. How do animals experience emotions? Is laughter at the root of human empathy? Does laughter contribute to or indicate overall health?
Prompting these thoughts and many others, this informative film is bound also to make you laugh - but not in the ways you expected.
'The documentary is both intellectually stimulating and emotionally satisfying. It has the potential to be a vocational motivator for high school students, inspiring them to pursue science. For undergraduates, it could support the study of the biological basis of social behavior and boost understanding of concepts in social neuroscience, evolutionary psychology, animal behavior studies, and related subjects. And the film could appeal to the graduate student and professional audience, as they will relate to its revelation of the scientific research process. The film offers clarity for the neophyte science student and complexity for the aspiring or practicing scientist. Because of the interdisciplinary nature of social neuroscience, the documentary has broad potential application across the curriculum, from philosophy to general science. It would be quite effective as a teaching tool about observation, empiricism, and the scientific process.' -Educational Media Reviews Online
'Using this presentation as an introduction to the study of the brain in general and laughter specifically can help students see neuroscience in action-all the while LOL. I would use this with secondary students not only to show the relevance of laughter but as a tool to show how scientists do experiments in many studies.' -National Science Teachers Association Recommends
Citation
Main credits
Mitsch, Jacques (film director)
Temple, John (commentator)
Other credits
Editor, Gilles Pedoussaut; composer, Gilles Charles; camera, Florian Bouchet, Mathias Touzeris.
Distributor subjects
Biology; Happiness; High School Use; Neuroscience and Neurology; Psychology; ScienceKeywords
WEBVTT
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The press reports one good C,
that what you were writing
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was that, today\'s meaning
with President Bill Clinton
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was going to be a disaster.
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[non-English narration]
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Well, now for the first time, I
can tell you that your disaster.
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[sil.]
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Two president\'s laugh, then the
whole world laughs along with them.
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In spite of their language barriers,
responsibilities, and differences, and culture,
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and political orientations, laughter
brings them closer than anything else.
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[music]
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[music]
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Main stream science has long ignored laughter.
Most of the questions concerning its origins,
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its functions and mechanism
continued to be unanswered.
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What is it that sets off laughter inside our primary(ph)
brains? Through disease studies of the brain,
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the medical world has shown that there
is no single center for laughter.
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Rather a variety of different zones linked to the phenomenon.
The primitive zones as well as the more recently
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evolved parts of the nervous system
would appeared to be involved.
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[music]
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Laughter is not a reflex, but
rather a complex neuronal program.
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Laughter continues to be a mystery that man
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tries to understand. There are
non conformance(ph) pioneers,
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they invented laughter science.
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They are convinced by this and demonstrate that
laughter is a determining factor in understanding
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mankind and its evolution.
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[sil.]
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A metallic grey Z06 Corvette,
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V8, 437 Horse power. What sort of
scientist is hiding inside this car?
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[music]
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A Neurologist and Behavioral Specialist,
today a Psychology Professor,
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Robert Provine is the ideal person
to begin our investigations.
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For years, Robert Provine has
exclusively studying laughter.
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He has met numerous challenges
relating to his ideas. For many years,
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the biology of laughter was pushed aside in considered to
Pseudo Science, one would choose more poetic than scientific.
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The world is not ready for this office yet.
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Over history, there has been a lot
of concern with laughter which uh…
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most great philosophers had dealt
with the topic of laughter,
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Plato, Aristotle, (inaudible),
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(inaudible), right up to
the present all felt that
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this is something that
had to be dealt with.
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Many have tried to explain laughter.
Thus in 1776,
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Joseph Priestley a chemist discovered
Nitrous Oxide, or Laughing gas.
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Proof was made that laughter is
linked with chemistry and the brain.
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[music]
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In the 1860\'s, a French Physician Duchenne de
Boulogne used a buddy means of photography
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to study different expressions of smiling,
laughter, and the muscles involved.
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In 1872, Charles Darwin, the Naturalist
published the expression of the emotions,
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man, and the animals. He compared the behaviors
of laughter between adults and children,
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and between man and animals.
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Today laughter is studied
at the university.
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[music]
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Here we are in Baltimore, USA.
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Robert Provine is asking the students
to think about the mechanisms
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involved in laughter. Okay,
what I like it here now.
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Okay, it\'s hard to laugh on command. We are gonna get to that
in a minute, but okay. What I like you to do is, let\'s have a
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sample of your ordinary
laughter\'s, best you can do it.
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Okay, now I would like you to hear.
Laugh as fast as you can.
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Laugh as fast? Yes.
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That sounded like a laugh.
Didn\'t sound like a…
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you gonna go like… Laugh
really fast, we like…
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You know, what else. Laugh really
slow now, laugh really slow now.
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Slow. Think you gonna go.
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Okay, my laughing, I am having a seizure.
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My motivation was to learn
about brain and behavior.
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In laughter\'s, an ideal place to look.
But first of all laughter is
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a human universal, and if you want to learn about a
brain mechanism, we don\'t want this person to have it
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and this person not, we want everyone to have
it. We want males and females to have it.
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Members of every culture, and everyone
laughs in pretty much the same way.
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So laughter\'s a good place to look.
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[sil.]
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Little by little, Robert Provine
has established a methodology
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to understand and explain
the phenomenon of laughter.
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[sil.]
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Hard to do that. Our first approach was to
bring people in the laboratory situations,
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such as laboratory hears(ph), show them
comedy material, get them to laugh
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and then analyze the laughter that was
produced. Because, analyzing the laughter
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and not only describe what that sound was,
describes the behavior that produced it.
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[sil.]
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Unfortunately, to analyze laughter, you must get it
to a curve. You have to get someone genuinely laugh.
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This experiment meant with failure and
Robert Provine had to change his method.
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So with the spirit of Jane Goodall
going to Gombe stream preserve
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to study Chimpanzees. Uh… We
went to the student union
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city side walks of urban shopping malls
and looking laughter, uh… there.
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[music]
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Here we are in a cafeteria, the
ideal place for a laughter hunter.
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Robert Provine easily
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fits in to the environment. He studies
and absorbs the humans around him,
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his contemporaries.
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[music]
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Every expression, gesture
and all of the actions
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leading a company or following laughter
made turn out to be significant.
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[music]
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What we found was
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by recording what a person said before they
laugh, first of all what the material was,
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was it all jokey(ph). We found perhaps only
ten or fifteen percent of pre-laugh comments
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were joke like at all.
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When we started to attribute the sex
to the speaker and the audience,
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some striking thing started to appear.
Now, first of all we found that
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males were the best laugh getters.
Both women and men
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laugh more, when men are speaking to them
than when women are speaking to them.
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This is also interesting,
because it\'s not because
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the men decide not to laugh, because
laughter is not consciously controlled.
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So what we have here is the acting
out of this kind of primal dance
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after different individuals
or different sexes.
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So when we are looking at these
relationships, we are getting insights
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to what people really think. For
example, if a women is standing
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near a man and looking him in the eye
standing close to him and laughing a lot.
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This is a very positive thing meaning that the female
is sending a unconsciously controlled message,
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that she is interested in this person.
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[music]
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After pursuing this in other ways,
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uh… we had looked at personal ads and
newspapers, and looking at thousands of these,
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we find that a common theme
of… of in search of ads,
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personal ads of women is they are
interested in man with good sense of humor.
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Men, when they write their ads, often will
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uh… describe their sense of humor. So we have the
basis here where kind of sexual market place.
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Man is a social animal.
Robert Provine is now certain
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that laughter is at the heart of
social connections between humans.
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In short, we rarely laugh alone.
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The history of laughter is extremely difficult to
establish and for good reason, Laughter leaves no trace.
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Laughter will never become a fossil.
So how can one go
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about exploring the origins of
laughter, the very first laughs.
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New doubt, we must look towards the
great apes to try and understand
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the origins of phenomenon between man
and apes, there is a single step,
00:10:30.000 --> 00:10:34.999
only a single step.
00:10:35.000 --> 00:10:43.000
[music]
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Our investigation continues at the
Arnhem zoo in the Netherlands.
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Jan Van Hoof is a pioneer
of the laughter sciences.
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His favorite place to make observations
is at the zoo, his grandfather founded.
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[music]
00:11:05.000 --> 00:11:09.999
Jan Van Hoof is an anthologist. He has devoted
himself primarily to the study of social behaviors
00:11:10.000 --> 00:11:14.999
and emotions in monkeys and in humans.
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Well, what do you think of this?
An expression of rage of anger
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to same which you see in this
gentlemen here and in (inaudible),
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that was some scientist thought that
this mandrill face was the same
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as this expressions ritualize
rage and here in a small child.
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Wrong, completely mistaken,
this is the friendly greeting
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face of the mandrill. The friendly face,
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it shows you how careful you have
to be in jumping to conclusions on
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superficial similarities.
The conclusion is based on
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careful analysis of the antecedents of the
behavior, the reactions of the part of us(ph)
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and you can come to a complete
different conclusion.
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We are farer from the virgin
forests or deep jungles.
00:12:10.000 --> 00:12:14.999
Never the less in Arnhem in 1971,
00:12:15.000 --> 00:12:19.999
Jan Van Hoof set up the best conditions for these assuagement(ph)
of a Chimpanzees colony in an artificial environment.
00:12:20.000 --> 00:12:24.999
[music]
00:12:25.000 --> 00:12:29.999
This living space was the
first of its kind in Europe.
00:12:30.000 --> 00:12:34.999
(inaudible). Jump boy, this one is for you.
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Even as a child. Walking in this zoo
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and watching the monkeys, I was impressed
by so many qualities of their behavior
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that for symbol our human behavior. So
that has fascinated me all the time.
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Then I happened to read Darwin\'s,
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the expression of the emotions in man and animals
and he approached this from a comparative
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and illusion ally perspective,
and then the fascinating thing
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occurs that you think, \"Okay,
there are aspects in our behavior
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that indeed have an evolutionary
history.\" Yeah, Yeah, come in(ph).
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When the play areas being cleaned or during
veterinarian checkup\'s, in spite of the bars
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Jan Van Hoof can visit with an old friend.
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[sil.]
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How are you? How are you? Here he is with mama,
the Elvis of the chimps at 54 years old.
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[sil.]
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[non-English narration]
00:13:45.000 --> 00:13:53.000
[sil.]
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[music]
00:14:05.000 --> 00:14:09.999
For the ethologists, there
is no laboratory work to do.
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Jan Van hoof begins by getting up high.
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[music]
00:14:30.000 --> 00:14:34.999
Well, here we are in (inaudible).
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This is our observation cabin from
which we observe the Chimpanzees.
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Here we have all our equipment,
00:14:45.000 --> 00:14:49.999
uh… I have my video camera
to film a particular shots.
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I have my microphone in which
I have to speak…record
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the record of the behavior and of course
occasionally you want to watch a little bit closer.
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Well, in fact what we do, people think
00:15:05.000 --> 00:15:09.999
observing animal behavior is just a matter of sitting
there and seeing all of these things happen.
00:15:10.000 --> 00:15:14.999
But what is actually the case? Most of
the time they simply groom, they sleep,
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so it\'s a matter not of couple
of hours, or couple of days,
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but weeks of months to
systematically collect behaviors
00:15:25.000 --> 00:15:29.999
to collect observations
in to our computers and
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analyze these man. (inaudible).
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Jan Van Hoof has managed
to decipher the various
00:15:40.000 --> 00:15:44.999
facial expressions of the great apes and understands
when they appear within the context of the play,
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fear, and seduction.
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He is the one who identified
the play face expression.
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A relaxed open mouth expression,
when that fore shadows
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that of human laughter. Here
you see at wide open mouth,
00:16:05.000 --> 00:16:09.999
upper lips covering the teeth
as an intention moving
00:16:10.000 --> 00:16:14.999
in an insipient movement of…
\"I am going to glore you.\"
00:16:15.000 --> 00:16:19.999
And it\'s this muck biting intention
face that has been ritualized
00:16:20.000 --> 00:16:24.999
in to a signal telling, \"I want to play
with you, I am in a play for mood.\"
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Here the small one hits the big one,
00:16:30.000 --> 00:16:34.999
this couldn\'t be serious, of course, both of them
showing a beautiful play face. While still doing that,
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he sticks his tongue out
while he is doing it.
00:16:40.000 --> 00:16:44.999
Here the small one chasing the big one, he
gets a little kiss actually in response.
00:16:45.000 --> 00:16:49.999
And while they are
playing, a laugh, listen.
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[sil.]
00:16:55.000 --> 00:16:59.999
This laughing sound, not as loud as we do,
but that\'s the equivalent of a laughter.
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[sil.]
00:17:05.000 --> 00:17:09.999
Yeah, that was not a expression
that puzzled me tremendously.
00:17:10.000 --> 00:17:14.999
I had these sign and bad tease face,
which you find in many prime mates.
00:17:15.000 --> 00:17:19.999
In most species, my (inaudible), for
instance, bearing a little teeth
00:17:20.000 --> 00:17:24.999
is a signal of submission, because it tell
00:17:25.000 --> 00:17:29.999
I am afraid of you, it\'s derived from
the fear of face and the fear face,
00:17:30.000 --> 00:17:34.999
and that is the nearest to our smile.
00:17:35.000 --> 00:17:39.999
Gosh! We have always thought
that laughter and smiling
00:17:40.000 --> 00:17:44.999
are so to speak, expressions
on the same kind
00:17:45.000 --> 00:17:49.999
but of different intensity. Laughter
being the high intensity form,
00:17:50.000 --> 00:17:54.999
smiling a low intensity from of the same.
That\'s expression for instance in French,
00:17:55.000 --> 00:17:59.999
where you have re(ph) and
su re(ph), an under laugh.
00:18:00.000 --> 00:18:04.999
In German where you have…a little laugh.
00:18:05.000 --> 00:18:09.999
But if you come to think about
it, what is a little laugh?
00:18:10.000 --> 00:18:14.999
A little laugh is not a broad smile.
00:18:15.000 --> 00:18:19.999
If I tell a joke and
it\'s a good joke, I do.
00:18:20.000 --> 00:18:24.999
If it is a…joke like that, I make of a
little laugh and the little laugh is…
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That\'s not broke light.
00:18:30.000 --> 00:18:34.999
In other words, I was fascinated
to see that this means,
00:18:35.000 --> 00:18:39.999
that what we call frontally
brought smiling has
00:18:40.000 --> 00:18:44.999
a quite different origin in
evolution from our laughter.
00:18:45.000 --> 00:18:49.999
Laughter, playful, initiative, we are in a
playful mood, we are going to enjoy ourselves,
00:18:50.000 --> 00:18:54.999
this is going to be fun. Where
has the broad smile comes from,
00:18:55.000 --> 00:18:59.999
don\'t bother, I am friendly, I like you,
00:19:00.000 --> 00:19:04.999
don\'t be anxious, I like you very much.
00:19:05.000 --> 00:19:09.999
To left, you see the
equivalent of our cheese smile
00:19:10.000 --> 00:19:14.999
to the right you see the
equivalent of our laughter face.
00:19:15.000 --> 00:19:23.000
[sil.]
00:19:25.000 --> 00:19:29.999
I have once come here for a long time ago.
00:19:30.000 --> 00:19:34.999
But the study primate laughter, one has to find a way to
make them laugh. This is where Marina Davila Ross comes in,
00:19:35.000 --> 00:19:39.999
for she is Neuroscience Researcher from the university
of Portsmouth. She is here in a short stay in Arnhem.
00:19:40.000 --> 00:19:44.999
Hi! Hi. This is Marina Davila Ross,
00:19:45.000 --> 00:19:49.999
and she is an expert on chimp vocalizations.
And what we are going to do is to see
00:19:50.000 --> 00:19:54.999
whether we can make our
little Yuma(ph) laugh.
00:19:55.000 --> 00:20:03.000
[music]
00:20:10.000 --> 00:20:14.999
Yuma(ph) is a baby chimpanzee,
who is barely four months old.
00:20:15.000 --> 00:20:19.999
She is raised outside the colony, because
her mother didn\'t have enough milk.
00:20:20.000 --> 00:20:24.999
[music]
00:20:25.000 --> 00:20:29.999
There are four of us zoo keepers who take care of
Yuma(ph). We alternate every week with one of us.
00:20:30.000 --> 00:20:34.999
We take her home in the evening.
00:20:35.000 --> 00:20:39.999
We give her the bottle, change her diapers and
the following day bring her back to work.
00:20:40.000 --> 00:20:44.999
[music]
00:20:45.000 --> 00:20:49.999
Here we are in the middle of an
experiment, a tickling session.
00:20:50.000 --> 00:20:58.000
[music]
00:21:05.000 --> 00:21:09.999
Honestly, do not know how many tickling
sessions I have conducted. I am,
00:21:10.000 --> 00:21:14.999
I have been in seven European
zoos, umm… I have also collected
00:21:15.000 --> 00:21:19.999
the data in sanctuaries, umm…
particularly in an Orangutan sanctuary.
00:21:20.000 --> 00:21:24.999
Most young apes like to play
and like to be tickled and
00:21:25.000 --> 00:21:29.999
like to play roughly also, but there are also
some individuals who do not like it so much.
00:21:30.000 --> 00:21:34.999
Very similar to children, I think it\'s interesting
that you can see that already at such a young age.
00:21:35.000 --> 00:21:39.999
[music]
00:21:40.000 --> 00:21:44.999
Testing,
00:21:45.000 --> 00:21:49.999
umm… January 14th, (inaudible) Yuma.
00:21:50.000 --> 00:21:54.999
[music]
00:21:55.000 --> 00:21:59.999
Monkey or man, the first laughs
are always touchy moments.
00:22:00.000 --> 00:22:08.000
[sil.]
00:22:10.000 --> 00:22:14.999
Infants begins to really laugh
00:22:15.000 --> 00:22:19.999
around four months of age. The fetus
smiles in the womb at seven months.
00:22:20.000 --> 00:22:24.999
Once again this chronological distinction is
what differentiates smiles from laughter.
00:22:25.000 --> 00:22:29.999
[sil.]
00:22:30.000 --> 00:22:34.999
When you tickle the baby or play peekaboo,
00:22:35.000 --> 00:22:39.999
and at the moment of surprising twist
in the play for sequence occurs,
00:22:40.000 --> 00:22:44.999
the little child will answer with…
00:22:45.000 --> 00:22:49.999
and that develops in to
full blown laughter,
00:22:50.000 --> 00:22:54.999
which we as grow up.
00:22:55.000 --> 00:22:59.999
Express our appreciation
that something is funny.
00:23:00.000 --> 00:23:04.999
[sil.]
00:23:05.000 --> 00:23:09.999
Before any talking begins,
laughter and smiling
00:23:10.000 --> 00:23:14.999
allow this establishment of effective,
social, and intelligent relationships.
00:23:15.000 --> 00:23:19.999
Different ways of laughing, which
are related to as individuals
00:23:20.000 --> 00:23:24.999
may have genetic links. In fact
identical twins often have laughs
00:23:25.000 --> 00:23:33.000
which are strangely the same, even if they
have been educated and tickled separately.
00:23:35.000 --> 00:23:43.000
[sil.]
00:23:45.000 --> 00:23:49.999
Tickle is the primal
stimulus for human laughter.
00:23:50.000 --> 00:23:54.999
In fact, my candidate for the most ancient
joke is vein tickle. Well, it will be like,
00:23:55.000 --> 00:23:59.999
\"I am going to get you, I am going to get you.\" It\'s
the only joke that you can tell both to chimpanzees
00:24:00.000 --> 00:24:04.999
and a human baby.
00:24:05.000 --> 00:24:09.999
[sil.]
00:24:10.000 --> 00:24:14.999
Here is a gorilla,
00:24:15.000 --> 00:24:19.999
umm… an older juvenile gorilla being
tickled by a caretaker who has
00:24:20.000 --> 00:24:24.999
very close relationship to that
gorilla and that is very important.
00:24:25.000 --> 00:24:29.999
Umm… Of course, they can be very strong
individuals, but it\'s also important
00:24:30.000 --> 00:24:34.999
when we interact with it very young
individual to have a close relationship
00:24:35.000 --> 00:24:39.999
to tickle during the ticking\'s.
Because otherwise,
00:24:40.000 --> 00:24:44.999
umm… the ape does not respond and that\'s so
similar to how it is with humans. As you can see,
00:24:45.000 --> 00:24:49.999
uh… the gorilla responds
strongly when it\'s being tickled
00:24:50.000 --> 00:24:54.999
or even just touched umm… at his hands.
00:24:55.000 --> 00:24:59.999
He shows his head now. Uh… He wants
to be tickled probably also there.
00:25:00.000 --> 00:25:04.999
I delayed a stage where
he shows his shoulder,
00:25:05.000 --> 00:25:09.999
he shows his foot, and then
laughs while he is being tickled
00:25:10.000 --> 00:25:14.999
and even sure to be for he is being
tickled, he is already producing laughter.
00:25:15.000 --> 00:25:19.999
[sil.]
00:25:20.000 --> 00:25:24.999
The key issue in tickle
00:25:25.000 --> 00:25:29.999
is that you can\'t tickle yourself, because
part of our nervous system cancels out
00:25:30.000 --> 00:25:34.999
the inputs. So if try to tickle
ourselves by stroking our ribs,
00:25:35.000 --> 00:25:39.999
part of the nervous system say ignore
that input and here with that input,
00:25:40.000 --> 00:25:44.999
because it\'s self produced. So to be
tickled, someone else has to do it.
00:25:45.000 --> 00:25:49.999
Ask yourself this, \"When was the last
time you were tickled by a stranger?\"
00:25:50.000 --> 00:25:54.999
be rather starving(ph). You are more
likely to call the police, then left.
00:25:55.000 --> 00:25:59.999
[sil.]
00:26:00.000 --> 00:26:04.999
For laughter scientists, tickling is a precious
tool. One would imagine that there would be
00:26:05.000 --> 00:26:09.999
more sophisticated means of study.
00:26:10.000 --> 00:26:14.999
[sil.]
00:26:15.000 --> 00:26:19.999
When I read, Robert
Provine\'s umm… work on umm…
00:26:20.000 --> 00:26:24.999
how chimpanzees produce
this very staccato like
00:26:25.000 --> 00:26:29.999
vocalizations when they were being tickled.
I found that highly intriguing
00:26:30.000 --> 00:26:34.999
and how similar these
vocalizations are to humans.
00:26:35.000 --> 00:26:39.999
That was about the time when I heard
that uh… Bonobos(ph) are able to produce
00:26:40.000 --> 00:26:44.999
certain vocalizations when they are
being tickled, and that intrigued me
00:26:45.000 --> 00:26:49.999
and as a result of that,
I wanted to reconstruct
00:26:50.000 --> 00:26:58.000
the evolution of laughter by assessing
all the great apes and humans.
00:27:00.000 --> 00:27:04.999
What we did was, we collected the
tickling sounds of apes and humans,
00:27:05.000 --> 00:27:09.999
and the tickling cells are
represented here as sonograms.
00:27:10.000 --> 00:27:14.999
Umm… You see an Orangutan.
00:27:15.000 --> 00:27:19.999
You hear that it\'s very deep
00:27:20.000 --> 00:27:24.999
and here is the sound from Gorilla.
00:27:25.000 --> 00:27:29.999
[sil.]
00:27:30.000 --> 00:27:34.999
And maybe you can already detect
some more complex sounds in here.
00:27:35.000 --> 00:27:39.999
Now this is the sound of a Chimpanzee.
00:27:40.000 --> 00:27:44.999
Umm… Here is uh… a Bonobo(ph) example,
00:27:45.000 --> 00:27:49.999
and it\'s also quiet fast and complex,
00:27:50.000 --> 00:27:54.999
similar to the Chimpanzee and there are
also some similarities to the Gorilla.
00:27:55.000 --> 00:27:59.999
However, there are stronger differences to the Orangutans,
which alter evolutionary for this(ph) away from them.
00:28:00.000 --> 00:28:04.999
And here is an example of the human sound.
00:28:05.000 --> 00:28:09.999
And what we did then,
00:28:10.000 --> 00:28:14.999
when we have the acoustic data.
We used it just like Geneticist
00:28:15.000 --> 00:28:19.999
use the acoustic data to
reconstruct an evolutionary tree.
00:28:20.000 --> 00:28:24.999
And what we found was that the
acoustic tree matched exactly
00:28:25.000 --> 00:28:29.999
the genetic tree and that revealed that
all of these tickling vocalizations
00:28:30.000 --> 00:28:34.999
came from the same evolutionary
origin which indicates that,
00:28:35.000 --> 00:28:39.999
all of these vocalizations of the
great apes are Laugh Vocalizations.
00:28:40.000 --> 00:28:44.999
So therefore, we could trace
back the evolution of laughter
00:28:45.000 --> 00:28:49.999
to be at least ten to
sixteen million years old.
00:28:50.000 --> 00:28:54.999
That turns out the steadying the
transition from primate to human laughter,
00:28:55.000 --> 00:28:59.999
not only tells you how other
primates are different than us,
00:29:00.000 --> 00:29:04.999
but also explains why we can talk and
other apes can\'t. Here is the case,
00:29:05.000 --> 00:29:09.999
where laughter can be used as a
tool to study vocal evolution.
00:29:10.000 --> 00:29:14.999
The key event in human vocal evolution
00:29:15.000 --> 00:29:19.999
turns out to be bipedality. You
know, who would have guessed that.
00:29:20.000 --> 00:29:24.999
[sil.]
00:29:25.000 --> 00:29:29.999
This bipedality, the floor access freed
of its mechanical support function.
00:29:30.000 --> 00:29:34.999
And this permits the second theory,
00:29:35.000 --> 00:29:39.999
selection for making
fancy sounds of speech.
00:29:40.000 --> 00:29:44.999
A lot of linguist or Paleolinguists,
individuals interested in
00:29:45.000 --> 00:29:49.999
the evolution of language which I think has miss
this, because their main concern is the evolution of
00:29:50.000 --> 00:29:54.999
the brain mechanisms might have to do
with dramatical processes and so on.
00:29:55.000 --> 00:29:59.999
They are less interested in
lonely matters of breath control,
00:30:00.000 --> 00:30:04.999
but turns out that breath control is really
the secret to everything, it\'s started there.
00:30:05.000 --> 00:30:09.999
[music]
00:30:10.000 --> 00:30:14.999
From laughter to speaking, there is only a
small step, bipedality a crucial event.
00:30:15.000 --> 00:30:19.999
When man began walking up right,
he stood up laughed and spook(ph),
00:30:20.000 --> 00:30:24.999
Lennon monkeys have that
in common, laughter.
00:30:25.000 --> 00:30:29.999
Our other mammals, apparently less evolved,
00:30:30.000 --> 00:30:34.999
capable of laughter. To answer
this question, one must go to
00:30:35.000 --> 00:30:39.999
the Washington State campus at Pullman,
in the far North-West of the US.
00:30:40.000 --> 00:30:44.999
Here there is a man who has no doubt
changed our perception about animals.
00:30:45.000 --> 00:30:49.999
[music]
00:30:50.000 --> 00:30:54.999
Persuaded that animals feel emotions. He
also has been working counter current
00:30:55.000 --> 00:30:59.999
mainstream science with extreme difficulty.
00:31:00.000 --> 00:31:04.999
His name is Jaak Panksepp, and belongs to
00:31:05.000 --> 00:31:09.999
our select group of laughter scientists.
This is how this high as it is.
00:31:10.000 --> 00:31:14.999
No one has described laughter in birds.
00:31:15.000 --> 00:31:19.999
Uh… No one has described laughter
in reptiles. So it is something
00:31:20.000 --> 00:31:24.999
that distinguishes us mammals and you know,
00:31:25.000 --> 00:31:29.999
we cannot be sure that every mammal laughs.
It might be just some of them.
00:31:30.000 --> 00:31:34.999
In the beginning of Jaak
Panksepp\'s research,
00:31:35.000 --> 00:31:39.999
there was play. The rat, like the
scientists, is sometimes playful.
00:31:40.000 --> 00:31:44.999
And it\'s really a wrestling match.
00:31:45.000 --> 00:31:49.999
I had a famous Psychologist,
Robert Plutchik visit the lab,
00:31:50.000 --> 00:31:54.999
all 10 years ago, 20 years ago. And I said,
00:31:55.000 --> 00:31:59.999
Rob was a great evolutionist and
he hadn\'t ever talked about play
00:32:00.000 --> 00:32:04.999
and I said, \"Rob, I am gonna show
you something in the laboratory.\"
00:32:05.000 --> 00:32:09.999
And I brought him up to lab and just put
couple of animals together on the red lights
00:32:10.000 --> 00:32:14.999
where they are very comfortable. And
they started wrestling each other
00:32:15.000 --> 00:32:19.999
and he was just amazed. He looked at it
and said, \"Jaak, Jaak, How did you train
00:32:20.000 --> 00:32:24.999
the animals to fight that way? \" and
I said, \" Rob, I didn\'t train them,
00:32:25.000 --> 00:32:29.999
evolution did. And by the way, they
are not fighting, they are playing.\"
00:32:30.000 --> 00:32:34.999
He said, \"Playing. I have
to learn about that.\"
00:32:35.000 --> 00:32:39.999
[music]
00:32:40.000 --> 00:32:44.999
Play is one of those things
that people say is frivolous.
00:32:45.000 --> 00:32:49.999
It\'s just for fun. Well,
if it\'s just for fun,
00:32:50.000 --> 00:32:54.999
it would not have been built in to the
brain. Play is one of Mother Nature\'s ways
00:32:55.000 --> 00:32:59.999
for us to learn about other people, and
to find ways to get along with them.
00:33:00.000 --> 00:33:04.999
Through play, you can have fun.
But if you don\'t know
00:33:05.000 --> 00:33:09.999
how to engage with others,
there will be no fun
00:33:10.000 --> 00:33:14.999
and there will be a lot of sadness and a
lot of Psychological pain eventually,
00:33:15.000 --> 00:33:19.999
so we have to cherish play.
00:33:20.000 --> 00:33:24.999
While following this path, Jaak Panksepp
made a spectacular discovery, Rat Laughter.
00:33:25.000 --> 00:33:29.999
[music]
00:33:30.000 --> 00:33:34.999
The discovery of the
laughter was literally,
00:33:35.000 --> 00:33:39.999
I woke up one morning and said,
\"What if that sound is laughter?\"
00:33:40.000 --> 00:33:44.999
When I went to the lab and my student
Jeff Burdorf(ph) was waiting for me,
00:33:45.000 --> 00:33:49.999
I said, \"Jeff, let\'s go tickle some
rats.\" And he looked at me and said,
00:33:50.000 --> 00:33:54.999
\"Okay\" and we tickled the first rat and
00:33:55.000 --> 00:33:59.999
they chirped and chirped and chirped. And we tickled the second rat and
they chirped and chirped and chirped, and then the third rat and every rat.
00:34:00.000 --> 00:34:04.999
Of course, uh… other people
are skeptical of that
00:34:05.000 --> 00:34:09.999
we collected more and more data that
are pointed in the same direction
00:34:10.000 --> 00:34:14.999
and our attitude is, you go with the
data, you know. You don\'t go with logic,
00:34:15.000 --> 00:34:19.999
the data tells you the nature of the world.
And we now know
00:34:20.000 --> 00:34:24.999
more about rat laughter than we know about
human laughter, at least in the brain.
00:34:25.000 --> 00:34:29.999
[sil.]
00:34:30.000 --> 00:34:34.999
When a Rat laughs, it is not audible to the human ear.
The rat emits a series of ultrasonic chuckles at 50 KH.
00:34:35.000 --> 00:34:39.999
In order to hear a Rat laugh,
Panksepp uses an ultrasound detector.
00:34:40.000 --> 00:34:48.000
[sil.]
00:34:50.000 --> 00:34:54.999
We can stimulate Rat laughter by
stimulating specific parts of the brain.
00:34:55.000 --> 00:34:59.999
And every place you stimulate
that you get a Rat laughter,
00:35:00.000 --> 00:35:04.999
which is kind…the animal likes it.
00:35:05.000 --> 00:35:09.999
The animal will turn on the stimulation
themselves, so now we know,
00:35:10.000 --> 00:35:14.999
what\'s the positive of emotion.
00:35:15.000 --> 00:35:19.999
Jason, how this animal chirp?
Good responder.
00:35:20.000 --> 00:35:24.999
Umm… He is actually even chirping when
you are holding him, every now and then.
00:35:25.000 --> 00:35:29.999
Even when you are doing right now. He must have loved me.
If you stop playing and you just leave your hand in there,
00:35:30.000 --> 00:35:34.999
after a while they start
biting your hand very gently,
00:35:35.000 --> 00:35:39.999
never hurt you. It\'s their way of
saying, \"Come on, let\'s play.\"
00:35:40.000 --> 00:35:44.999
[music]
00:35:45.000 --> 00:35:49.999
Jaak Panksepp is probably, the only person in the world
to freely speak about a very controversial subject,
00:35:50.000 --> 00:35:54.999
the emotions of animals.
00:35:55.000 --> 00:35:59.999
So this is our animal laboratory and
we have about 200 animals here.
00:36:00.000 --> 00:36:04.999
We have happy animals, they have
been bread(ph) for high, trippy,
00:36:05.000 --> 00:36:09.999
laughter types of sounds. And then on the other
side, there are animals that are not so happy,
00:36:10.000 --> 00:36:14.999
that do not chirp very much at all.
00:36:15.000 --> 00:36:19.999
It turns out the animals that chirp a lot, they want
us that are happy or very resistant to depression,
00:36:20.000 --> 00:36:24.999
and the animals that are sad and do
not laugh as much or chirp as much.
00:36:25.000 --> 00:36:29.999
They tend to become depress more easily.
00:36:30.000 --> 00:36:34.999
What is the purpose of tickling Rats?
00:36:35.000 --> 00:36:39.999
So a study of Rat laughter can lead to
00:36:40.000 --> 00:36:44.999
an understanding of the chemistry. And the
chemistry can lead us in to new medicines,
00:36:45.000 --> 00:36:49.999
psychiatric medicines that
can make people feel better,
00:36:50.000 --> 00:36:54.999
if they are feeling depressed. We
are still in a primitive area,
00:36:55.000 --> 00:36:59.999
where we have lots of drugs for
depression, but none of them
00:37:00.000 --> 00:37:04.999
really make people feel good, fast.
00:37:05.000 --> 00:37:09.999
So if we found one that was not addictive and I think
it would be a wonderful medicine for depression.
00:37:10.000 --> 00:37:14.999
[sil.]
00:37:15.000 --> 00:37:19.999
When we hurt, we cry. When things are going well,
we laugh. Laughing is good for the morale.
00:37:20.000 --> 00:37:24.999
Laughter reinforces our resistance to
infectious diseases and stimulates
00:37:25.000 --> 00:37:29.999
our immune system. There would seem to be benefits
to our cardiovascular system and stress management.
00:37:30.000 --> 00:37:34.999
[sil.]
00:37:35.000 --> 00:37:39.999
Laughter is a sign that
your life is going well.
00:37:40.000 --> 00:37:44.999
A life filled with laughter is a good one.
The question always comes up,
00:37:45.000 --> 00:37:49.999
\"Does laughter make us healthy?\"
00:37:50.000 --> 00:37:54.999
Among the members of our greater laughter family, there
is a curious species, one which follows certain rituals
00:37:55.000 --> 00:37:59.999
which are spreading in
to our western cultures.
00:38:00.000 --> 00:38:04.999
In order to meet some of the members of these
species, we went to (inaudible) in France,
00:38:05.000 --> 00:38:09.999
where the annual symposium of the
international school of laughter\'s health.
00:38:10.000 --> 00:38:14.999
There they do laughter yoga
00:38:15.000 --> 00:38:19.999
or even laughterology(ph), and they underline the idea
of how more joy needs to be compart(ph) our daily life.
00:38:20.000 --> 00:38:28.000
[sil.]
00:38:35.000 --> 00:38:39.999
[sil.]
00:38:40.000 --> 00:38:44.999
Laughter Yoga is a fascinating topic. The
(inaudible) and the contagious nature of laughter,
00:38:45.000 --> 00:38:49.999
whether we call it Yoga or not. Basically,
we laugh when other people laugh.
00:38:50.000 --> 00:38:54.999
[sil.]
00:38:55.000 --> 00:38:59.999
Laughter frees us from our individual and
collective worries and what seem to be contagious.
00:39:00.000 --> 00:39:04.999
So, what makes it contagious?
00:39:05.000 --> 00:39:09.999
This is a mechanism not only involved in
00:39:10.000 --> 00:39:14.999
linking people in groups together, but may also
provide insights in to the roots of empathy.
00:39:15.000 --> 00:39:19.999
You know, what are the
mechanisms allow us to share
00:39:20.000 --> 00:39:24.999
the feelings of other individuals. Contagious
laughter\'s is one of the places to look
00:39:25.000 --> 00:39:29.999
and other one for example would be, contagious
yawning. We could also ask the questions,
00:39:30.000 --> 00:39:34.999
our individuals that are efficient. And uh…
the belly produce contagious behavior,
00:39:35.000 --> 00:39:39.999
uh… might they show (inaudible)behavior,
uh… might they be prone to autism.
00:39:40.000 --> 00:39:44.999
In fact, there is even some
preliminary evidence indicates
00:39:45.000 --> 00:39:49.999
that autistic individuals are deficient and
their ability to produce these contagious acts.
00:39:50.000 --> 00:39:54.999
So here using the unlikely
tools of contagious behavior,
00:39:55.000 --> 00:39:59.999
would be at contagious laughter,
contagious yawning. And we have something
00:40:00.000 --> 00:40:04.999
that\'s powerful socially, powerful
philosophically, and also powerful clinically.
00:40:05.000 --> 00:40:09.999
The issues of contagious
behavior also contributes to,
00:40:10.000 --> 00:40:14.999
you know the concern with, for
example, the so called Mirror Neurons.
00:40:15.000 --> 00:40:19.999
[music]
00:40:20.000 --> 00:40:24.999
Mirror Neurons, a discovery which may be directly
linked to the explanations of the contagious laughter.
00:40:25.000 --> 00:40:29.999
It is now time to penetrate
inside the brain itself.
00:40:30.000 --> 00:40:34.999
It was in Parma, Italy, where
this revolutionary discovery
00:40:35.000 --> 00:40:39.999
in cognitive sciences was first made.
00:40:40.000 --> 00:40:44.999
The researchers were studying Motor Neurons
00:40:45.000 --> 00:40:49.999
in (inaudible), which allowed a very
simple action, taking a peanut.
00:40:50.000 --> 00:40:54.999
[sil.]
00:40:55.000 --> 00:40:59.999
Act one. The peanut is placed in
front of the monkey. At the instant,
00:41:00.000 --> 00:41:04.999
when the monkey grabs the peanut, the
neurons in its Cortex are activated.
00:41:05.000 --> 00:41:09.999
This neuronal activity is
then converted in to a sound.
00:41:10.000 --> 00:41:14.999
Act two-one day without thinking, a researcher takes
a peanut while though immobile monkey is watching.
00:41:15.000 --> 00:41:19.999
The researchers then
surprised by what he hears.
00:41:20.000 --> 00:41:24.999
The noise indicating that the neurons are activated.
The neurons are activated in exactly the same way,
00:41:25.000 --> 00:41:29.999
whether it is the monkey which makes the movement
or it is watching another do the same thing.
00:41:30.000 --> 00:41:34.999
They have just discovered Mirror Neurons.
00:41:35.000 --> 00:41:39.999
[music]
00:41:40.000 --> 00:41:44.999
Professor of Physiology and director
of the department of Neurosciences
00:41:45.000 --> 00:41:49.999
at the University of Parma, Giacomo
Rizzolatti is the researcher to whom we owe
00:41:50.000 --> 00:41:54.999
the discovery of Mirror Neurons.
There is no way
00:41:55.000 --> 00:41:59.999
that we could have known these neurons existed, but their discovery
was not entirely due to random event as is often related.
00:42:00.000 --> 00:42:04.999
But rather to our specific approach,
our approach was differentiated
00:42:05.000 --> 00:42:09.999
from others studying the motor system by its
ethological nature. We had a monkey in front of us
00:42:10.000 --> 00:42:14.999
and we played with it. The traditional approach
was that of conditioning, the monkey is
00:42:15.000 --> 00:42:19.999
sitting in a chair in front of a screen, he moves
his arm, this allows us to study the cinematic,
00:42:20.000 --> 00:42:24.999
the dynamics. I think that
our greatest merit(ph)
00:42:25.000 --> 00:42:29.999
was to use a very different approach to the
traditional way. Through the bias of Ethology,
00:42:30.000 --> 00:42:34.999
playing with the monkey, we managed to discover something
which has in existence that was difficult to imagine.
00:42:35.000 --> 00:42:43.000
[music]
00:42:45.000 --> 00:42:49.999
After the discovery of Mirror
Neurons from the monkey,
00:42:50.000 --> 00:42:54.999
the next step was to demonstrate
their existence in the human brain,
00:42:55.000 --> 00:42:59.999
an analog mechanism which
would reflect actions.
00:43:00.000 --> 00:43:04.999
We have known for several years now,
00:43:05.000 --> 00:43:09.999
that when someone sees another person laughing
unconsciously, they see muscles are activated
00:43:10.000 --> 00:43:14.999
as if they themselves were laughing
for example, physigomatic(ph).
00:43:15.000 --> 00:43:19.999
Like wise when someone observes another person
crying, they also unconsciously activate,
00:43:20.000 --> 00:43:24.999
all of these varies with individuals. The same
muscle used, when you are crying themselves.
00:43:25.000 --> 00:43:29.999
[sil.]
00:43:30.000 --> 00:43:34.999
See for example, I go in to a room where everyone is
laughing, I will start laughing as well without knowing why.
00:43:35.000 --> 00:43:39.999
[sil.]
00:43:40.000 --> 00:43:44.999
In this case, we don\'t speak of empathy
00:43:45.000 --> 00:43:49.999
but of contagious feelings. And even in
the case of these contagious feelings,
00:43:50.000 --> 00:43:54.999
we think that Mirror Neurons may
be playing an important role.
00:43:55.000 --> 00:43:59.999
[sil.]
00:44:00.000 --> 00:44:04.999
When we first discovered Mirror Neurons,
00:44:05.000 --> 00:44:09.999
we asked ourselves two questions.
What are they used for,
00:44:10.000 --> 00:44:14.999
to understand or to imitate something?
The result showed that with monkeys,
00:44:15.000 --> 00:44:19.999
they are used for understanding and
with humans they are used for both,
00:44:20.000 --> 00:44:24.999
to understand and to imitate.
00:44:25.000 --> 00:44:29.999
Mirror neurons are crucial for
mammals when they share feelings
00:44:30.000 --> 00:44:34.999
with one another to help them understand.
During the course of primate evolution,
00:44:35.000 --> 00:44:39.999
these Mirror Neurons helped with
the development of imitation,
00:44:40.000 --> 00:44:44.999
the reinforcement of social cohesion.
It is therefore
00:44:45.000 --> 00:44:49.999
not surprising that with man, the ultra social
animal, the mirror mechanism became more complex
00:44:50.000 --> 00:44:54.999
than for other primates and that
there would be a link with laughter.
00:44:55.000 --> 00:45:03.000
[music]
00:45:10.000 --> 00:45:14.999
That laughter is not specific to
man alone has become certitude,
00:45:15.000 --> 00:45:19.999
but it has allowed us to better
understand his evolution.
00:45:20.000 --> 00:45:24.999
Only non conformists(ph) and intro
disciplinary(ph) researchers
00:45:25.000 --> 00:45:29.999
had been able to adventure in to this very
frontier of science with out the fear of ridicule.
00:45:30.000 --> 00:45:34.999
[music]
00:45:35.000 --> 00:45:39.999
Some people say to me, can I prove that
00:45:40.000 --> 00:45:44.999
the animals have emotions?
And my answer to them is,
00:45:45.000 --> 00:45:49.999
that is not an appropriate question.
00:45:50.000 --> 00:45:54.999
Because, science never deals in
proof, science deals in evidence.
00:45:55.000 --> 00:45:59.999
And at this moment in time,
00:46:00.000 --> 00:46:04.999
whether animals have emotions is
supported by an Everest of evidence.
00:46:05.000 --> 00:46:09.999
By looking at something like laughter
00:46:10.000 --> 00:46:14.999
and its biological basis, we are
looking at human universal things
00:46:15.000 --> 00:46:19.999
that bind us together, that don\'t drive us
apart. So I think certainly it\'s not dangerous
00:46:20.000 --> 00:46:24.999
and it helps us to appreciate things
that bridge… bridge individuals
00:46:25.000 --> 00:46:29.999
and different cultures, and individuals through out
history and I think it\'s important for that reason.
00:46:30.000 --> 00:46:34.999
[music]
00:46:35.000 --> 00:46:39.999
We are learning now that
animals uh… use complex ways
00:46:40.000 --> 00:46:44.999
to communicate with one another positively.
And that shows us that,
00:46:45.000 --> 00:46:49.999
we are not only unique to make use
of certain important social skills.
00:46:50.000 --> 00:46:54.999
[sil.]
00:46:55.000 --> 00:46:59.999
If I were to come from the planet of Mars
and I looked at humans, I would say,
00:47:00.000 --> 00:47:04.999
\"Gosh, that\'s remarkable species. Not only do
they build houses and they have four wheels
00:47:05.000 --> 00:47:09.999
which they move, but they are
constantly doing these barking sounds.\"
00:47:10.000 --> 00:47:14.999
[sil.]
00:47:15.000 --> 00:47:19.999
Its remarkable species. Everything is emphatically
supported by our expressive behavior.
00:47:20.000 --> 00:47:24.999
In that respect, of course,
we are developed almost
00:47:25.000 --> 00:47:29.999
much farther than any other primate.
00:47:30.000 --> 00:47:34.999
Laughter has shown itself to be fascinating
tool to study the evolution of tour species.
00:47:35.000 --> 00:47:39.999
Just as Darwin fore saw, we now know that human
beings share their basic emotions with other animals.
00:47:40.000 --> 00:47:44.999
To ask ourselves about
00:47:45.000 --> 00:47:49.999
the evolution of laughter is to better understand the
origins of human society and the social part of our brain.
00:47:50.000 --> 00:47:54.999
Laughter has enriched
00:47:55.000 --> 00:47:59.999
this new field of biology, the social
neurosciences. Laughter is serious business.
00:48:00.000 --> 00:48:08.000
[music]
00:48:40.000 --> 00:48:45.000
[sil.]