Laughter may not be unique to humans
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Many animals may have their own forms
of laughter, says a US
researcher writing in the magazine Science.
Professor Jaak Panksepp says that
animals other than humans exhibit play sounds that
resemble human laughs.
These include the
panting sounds made by chimps and dogs when they play and chirping sounds
observed in rats.
This suggests that
the capacity for laughter may be a very ancient emotional response that
predates the evolution of humankind, says Panksepp.
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 Such knowledge may help to reveal how
joking and horsing around emerged
Jaak Panksepp, Bowling
Green State University
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Research
suggests the capacity for human laughter preceded the capacity for speech.
Professor Panksepp, of Bowling Green
State University
in Ohio,
US, explains that neural circuits for laughter exist in "ancient"
parts of our brain, whose general structure is shared amongst many animals.
Young chimps
"play pant" as they mischievously chase and tickle each other.
And when rats
play, they make chirps which some scientists associate with positive
emotional feelings.
Rats emit chirps when they are at play
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When
rats are tickled in a playful way, they become socially bonded to humans
and are rapidly conditioned to seek tickles, the US neuroscientist explains in
Science.
The chirping
sounds could be provoked by nerve circuitry in the brain which releases the
neurotransmitter dopamine. These dopamine circuits also light up in the
human brain during human amusement.
"Such
knowledge may help to reveal how joking and horsing around emerged in our
expansive higher brain regions," Professor Panksepp
writes.
"Although no
one has investigated the possibility of rat humour,
if it exists, it is likely to be heavily laced with slapstick."
Other researchers
prefer to view laughter and joy as uniquely human traits.
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