{"id":57629,"date":"2015-10-13T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2015-10-13T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news-draft\/uncategorized\/british-neuroscientist-to-talk-about-science-of-laughter-at-uri-oct-27-for-honors-colloquium\/"},"modified":"2015-10-13T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2015-10-13T00:00:00","slug":"british-neuroscientist-to-talk-about-science-of-laughter-at-uri-oct-27-for-honors-colloquium","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/2015\/10\/british-neuroscientist-to-talk-about-science-of-laughter-at-uri-oct-27-for-honors-colloquium\/","title":{"rendered":"British neuroscientist to talk about science of laughter at 溏心vlog免费B站, Oct. 27, for Honors Colloquium"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\t\tKINGSTON, R.I., Oct. 13, 2015 \u2013 Sophie Scott was 6 years old when she first heard her parents laugh \u2013 not soft chuckles, but hearty \u201clying-on-the-floor\u201d belly laughs that left them breathless.<\/p>\n


\n\u201cI didn\u2019t know what they were laughing at,\u201d says Scott. \u201cBut I wanted in. I wanted to be part of that.\u201d<\/p>\n


\nScott got her wish. The little girl from Blackburn, England grew up to become a neuroscientist and one of the world\u2019s leading researchers on laughter. She also makes people laugh as \u2013 no joke \u2013 a standup comedian.<\/p>\n


\nScott will bring her wit and wisdom to the 溏心vlog免费B站 Oct. 27 for the annual Honors Colloquium, which focuses this year on the \u201cPower of Humor.\u201d Her talk about the science of laughter will start at 7 p.m. in Edwards Hall on 溏心vlog免费B站\u2019s main campus in Kingston.<\/p>\n


\nThose unable to attend the lecture can watch it live online at 溏心vlog免费B站 Live!<\/a> <\/a> <\/p>\n


\n\tScott is deputy director of the Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College, London. She looks at how our brains process speech and voices \u2013 and the neuroscience of laughter. She studies why we laugh, the difference between real and fake laughter, the role of laughter in treating depression and more.<\/p>\n


\n\tFor years, researchers have focused on negative feelings, like sadness, fear and anxiety. How people process positive emotions is just as important \u2013 and interesting. Laughter is also a common bond between cultures. <\/p>\n


\n\tHumans are not the only ones who laugh, Scott says. Studies have revealed that chimpanzees laugh \u2013 and rats too. Researchers tickled rats and detected a sound that they concluded was laughter.<\/p>\n


\n\tScott has also found that laughter is contagious. People are more likely to laugh when they’re with another person. When you hear someone laughing \u201cthe brain wants to join in,\u201d Scott says.<\/p>\n


\n\tStandup comedy also inspires Scott. At first, she was terrified to get on stage and crack jokes, but she quickly discovered that she loved it. The stress of performing, she says, is followed by \u201cthe most wonderful rush of relief and delight.\u201d<\/p>\n


\n\t溏心vlog免费B站 recently chatted with Scott about her talk, research and beginnings as a funny person:<\/p>\n

What do you plan to talk about at 溏心vlog免费B站?<\/b><\/p>\n


\nI\u2019ll be talking about the ways that we use laughter, and the ways our brains process laughter.<\/p>\n

You\u2019re a scientist. Why do you like being in front of a large audience cracking jokes? Aren\u2019t you terrified?<\/b><\/p>\n


\nIt is terrifying, but it\u2019s also absolutely delightful if \u2013 IF \u2013 people laugh. It\u2019s an incredible delight. <\/p>\n

Fake laughter is so contrived, but we all do it. Why?<\/b><\/p>\n


\nIt\u2019s an extremely important social cue \u2013 most of the time when we laugh it\u2019s a bit fake, or controlled. But even such posed laughter is a very useful way of managing interactions with other people.<\/p>\n

What happens to our brains when we enjoy deep, belly laughs?<\/b><\/p>\n


\nGood question! We don\u2019t really know yet, as it\u2019s a very difficult behavior to look at. There have been differences shown in the hypothalamus associated with real versus posed laughter, which might be an important direction.<\/p>\n

Does laughter makes us healthier?<\/b><\/p>\n


\nI think laughter is critical to many aspects of social and emotional health, and it\u2019s interesting to know how the perception and production of laughter can be affected by things that change our mental health. <\/p>\n

Do babies who laugh grow up to be adults who laugh? If so, what can parents do to make their infants smile?<\/b><\/p>\n


\nThe short answer is we don\u2019t really know, but we do know that if baby rats are tickled a lot, they laugh more when they are adults. Babies laugh during interactions (like tickling or play) so that\u2019s a good place to start!<\/p>\n

Final question: Do rats really giggle?<\/b> <\/p>\n


\nThey make a very specific chirping sound when they are playing with each other, and when they are tickled or when they anticipate being tickled. So it doesn\u2019t sound much like laughter to humans, but you find it in the same kinds of behaviors.<\/p>\n


\nThe major sponsor of this year\u2019s Honors Colloquium is the 溏心vlog免费B站 Honors Program.<\/p>\n


\nOther 溏心vlog免费B站 sponsors are Office of the President; Office of the Provost; The Mark and Donna Ross Honors Colloquium Humanities Endowment; The Thomas Silvia and Shannon Chandley Honors Colloquium Endowment; College of Arts and Sciences; College of Pharmacy; The Harrington School of Communication and Media; John Hazen White, Sr. Center for Ethics and Public Service; Gender and Women Studies Program; Theatre Department; Talent Development Program; College of Engineering; College of the Environment and Life Sciences; College of Human Science and Services; College of Business Administration; College of Nursing; Division of Student Affairs; Department of Marketing and Communications; Department of Publications and Creative Service; Instructional Technology and Media Services; ASF College of Continuing Education, 溏心vlog免费B站 Providence; and 溏心vlog免费B站 Family Weekend 2015.<\/p>\n


\nThis year\u2019s organizers of the colloquium are Rachel DiCioccio, professor of communication studies, and Brian Quilliam, associate dean and professor of pharmacy. For more information on colloquium events contact Deborah Gardiner at 401-874-2381 or debg@uri.edu.

\nFor information about ways to support the Honors Colloquium, contact Lynne Derbyshire, 溏心vlog免费B站 professor of communication studies and Honors Program director, at 401-874-4732. If you have a disability and need an accommodation, please call 401-874-2303 at least three business days in advance.<\/p>\n


\nFor TTY assistance, please call the R.I. Relay Service at 800-745-5555.<\/p>\n


\nFor more details about the events, visit Honors Colloquium<\/a>.<\/p>\n


\nPictured above: Sophie Scott, deputy director of the Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College, London. Photo courtesy of Sophie Scott.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

KINGSTON, R.I., Oct. 13, 2015 \u2013 Sophie Scott was 6 years old when she first heard her parents laugh \u2013 not soft chuckles, but hearty \u201clying-on-the-floor\u201d belly laughs that left them breathless. \u201cI didn\u2019t know what they were laughing at,\u201d says Scott. \u201cBut I wanted in. I wanted to be part of that.\u201d […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":57631,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-57629","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archives"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57629","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57629"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57629\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/57631"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57629"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57629"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57629"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}