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Laughing Matter: Finding the Roots of Humor in the Brain.
Recently, a team of researchers scanned the brains of professional
comedians to identify the brain activity involved in telling jokes. They
found that compared to regular people, professional comedians had more
brain activity in regions involved in producing humor.
In Los Angeles, they had many professional comedians but also amateurs
that they could compare to. They then put the volunteers in a magnetic
resonance imaging (MRI) machine and
showed them cartoon pictures with no captions. Each participant was then
asked to write a humorous caption, a neutral caption that was not funny
or no caption. The result? These scans showed differences in the
pleasure centers of the brain, which are thought to be involved in
appreciating humor. The normal people showed the most activity in these
regions, the amateurs showed a little less, and the professionals showed
the least amount. Although, professional comedians showed the most
activity in regions of the brain's temporal lobe, which is where the
scientists think jokes are made.
The scientists also had another group of people rate the
funniness of the jokes, and found that funnier jokes were linked to more
brain activity in the humor areas of the listeners. In other
words, "you amplify the activity, you amplify the funniness," Amir
said.
http://www.livescience.com/48775-humor-brain-activity.html
1.) Why do YOU think that professional comedians have less activity in the part of the brain that makes you appreciate humor?
2.) Why do you think that pleasure centers died away more quickly in the brains of the
professional comedians than in the brains of the other participants?