Scientists suspect that the panting behavior exhibited by dogs during "play chasing" is an analog for human laughter.
It's no joke: Even animals ‘laugh’
Expert says dogs pant and rats chirp to express mirth
By Robert Roy Britt
Senior writer
Life can be funny, and not just for humans.
Studies by various groups suggest monkeys, dogs and even rats love a good laugh. People, meanwhile, have been laughing since before they could talk.
"Indeed, neural circuits for laughter exist in very ancient regions of the brain, and ancestral forms of play and laughter existed in other animals eons before we humans came along with our 'ha-ha-has' and verbal repartee," says Jaak Panksepp, a neuroscientist at Bowling Green State University.
When chimps play and chase each other, they pant in a manner that is strikingly like human laughter, Panksepp writes in Friday's issue of the journal Science. Dogs have a similar response.
Rats chirp while they play, again in a way that resembles our giggles. Panksepp found in a previous study that when rats are playfully tickled, they chirp and bond socially with their human tickler. And they seem to like it, seeking to be tickled more. Apparently joyful rats also preferred to hang out with other chirpers.
The first laugh
Laughter in humans starts young, another clue that it's a deep-seated brain function.
"Young children, whose semantic sense of humor is marginal, laugh and shriek abundantly in the midst of their other rough-and-tumble activities," Panksepp notes.
Importantly, various recent studies on the topic suggest that laughter in animals typically involves similar play chasing. It could be that verbal jokes tickle ancient, playful circuits in our brains.
More study is needed to figure out whether animals are really laughing. The results could explain why humans like to joke around. And Panksepp speculates it might even lead to the development of treatments for laughter's dark side: depression.
MSNbc3月31日訊,，專家稱狗氣喘吁吁或老鼠吱吱叫是它們開心的表現(xiàn),。生活總是充滿了各種各樣可笑的事情，而且絕不僅限于人類社會(huì),。
許多研究組織的研究結(jié)果表明、猴子,、狗甚至老鼠都喜歡笑,。
“實(shí)際上，笑的神經(jīng)回路存在大腦中的歷史已經(jīng)十分久遠(yuǎn),，而且其它動(dòng)物大腦中存在的玩耍和笑的遺傳性要比在我們?nèi)祟悓W(xué)會(huì)發(fā)出‘哈哈哈’笑聲,、開始使用語言早無數(shù)年，” 美國保令格林州立大學(xué)的神經(jīng)學(xué)科學(xué)家潘克斯普說,。
當(dāng)黑猩猩相互游戲追逐時(shí),，它們會(huì)開始喘粗氣，而且喘氣的聲音和人類的笑聲極為相似,，狗也有相似的情形,，潘克斯普在本周五版的科學(xué)期刊上寫到。
老鼠在玩耍時(shí)也會(huì)吱吱叫，聽起來有些像人在咯咯笑一樣,。潘克斯普以前也曾發(fā)現(xiàn),，如果在玩耍時(shí)給小老鼠搔癢，它們會(huì)開始吱吱叫并且會(huì)和給自己搔癢的人變得很親近,?？雌饋硭鼈兿矚g搔癢，很顯然開心的小老鼠也喜歡和其它吱吱叫的小老鼠一起玩,。
第一次笑
人類笑的活動(dòng)在很小時(shí)就會(huì)開始,，這也就是說這種活動(dòng)是深深根植于我們大腦中的。
“對(duì)于很小的孩子,，他們的對(duì)言語幽默的反應(yīng)還是零,，但是他們?cè)诘沧驳幕顒?dòng)過程中常常會(huì)大笑或者咯咯笑，” 潘克斯普強(qiáng)調(diào)說,。
重要的是,，近期的各種相關(guān)研究表明，動(dòng)物在發(fā)笑的時(shí)候往往伴隨著追逐玩耍,。對(duì)于人類來說,，很有可能是詼諧的言語“搔”動(dòng)了我們大腦中存在已久的“玩耍神經(jīng)回路”。
要證實(shí)動(dòng)物到底會(huì)不會(huì)笑,，科學(xué)家們還需要進(jìn)行更多大量的研究,。研究結(jié)果很由可能會(huì)解答人類為什么會(huì)喜歡開玩笑這種行為。潘克斯普推測(cè)說,，這個(gè)問題很有可能會(huì)延伸到開發(fā)針對(duì)笑的對(duì)立面——抑郁癥的治療方法,。
笑聲背后的進(jìn)化原因
同時(shí)，還有一個(gè)問題,，究竟是什么東西是動(dòng)物們的世界如此可笑,。
“雖然現(xiàn)在還沒有人研究老鼠之間幽默存在的可能性，如果它存在的話,，這很有可能與嬉戲有密切的關(guān)系,，” 潘克斯普認(rèn)為。“就算成年的嚙齒動(dòng)物沒有發(fā)展健全的認(rèn)知幽默的能力,，年幼的老鼠也可能擁有不同尋常的快樂感,。”
而人類科學(xué)傳統(tǒng)上是認(rèn)為動(dòng)物不可能有感覺喜怒哀樂的能力。
潘克斯普對(duì)于這個(gè)看法的回答是：“雖然有些人仍然認(rèn)為笑使人類都有的特性,，但是事實(shí)上,，自從更新世時(shí)期開始，它們就已經(jīng)有這種能力了,。”
