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,。
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,。
“實際上,，笑的神經(jīng)回路存在大腦中的歷史已經(jīng)十分久遠，而且其它動物大腦中存在的玩耍和笑的遺傳性要比在我們?nèi)祟悓W會發(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的神經(jīng)學科學家潘克斯普說。
當黑猩猩相互游戲追逐時,，它們會開始喘粗氣,，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期刊上寫到,。
老鼠在玩耍時也會吱吱叫，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),，如果在玩耍時給小老鼠搔癢，它們會開始吱吱叫并且會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
人類笑的活動在很小時就會開始,，這也就是說這種活動是深深根植于我們大腦中的。
“對于很小的孩子,，他們的對言語幽默的反應還是零,，但是他們在跌跌撞撞的活動過程中常常會大笑或者咯咯笑，” 潘克斯普強調(diào)說,。
重要的是,，近期的各種相關研究表明，動物在發(fā)笑的時候往往伴隨著追逐玩耍,。對于人類來說,，很有可能是詼諧的言語“搔”動了我們大腦中存在已久的“玩耍神經(jīng)回路”。
要證實動物到底會不會笑,，科學家們還需要進行更多大量的研究,。研究結(jié)果很由可能會解答人類為什么會喜歡開玩笑這種行為。潘克斯普推測說,，這個問題很有可能會延伸到開發(fā)針對笑的對立面——抑郁癥的治療方法,。
笑聲背后的進化原因
同時，還有一個問題,，究竟是什么東西是動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系,，” 潘克斯普認為,。“就算成年的嚙齒動物沒有發(fā)展健全的認知幽默的能力，年幼的老鼠也可能擁有不同尋常的快樂感,。”
而人類科學傳統(tǒng)上是認為動物不可能有感覺喜怒哀樂的能力,。
潘克斯普對于這個看法的回答是：“雖然有些人仍然認為笑使人類都有的特性，但是事實上,，自從更新世時期開始,，它們就已經(jīng)有這種能力了。”
