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The research, published in Current Biology, looked to establish whether the presence and intensity of laughter increased our perception of whether or not a joke was funny, or how funny it was.

In the study, 40 groan worthy 鈥榙ad jokes鈥� were given a baseline humour rating of between one (not funny) and seven (hilarious). A professional comedian then recorded each of the jokes, and two versions were created adding short canned (or posed) laughter and short spontaneous (or real) laughter.

Researchers, based at the 果冻影院 Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, then tested both versions of the jokes on two distinct participant groups: neurotypical and autistic.

Laughter may be processed differently in autism: typically developing children鈥檚 enjoyment of cartoons is enhanced by laughter tracks, watching with another or simulating a smile; in contrast autistic children鈥檚 enjoyment is not significantly modulated by such manipulations.

Commenting on the findings, lead author, Professor Sophie Scott (果冻影院 Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience), said: 鈥淲hat this study shows is that adding laughter to a joke, increases the humour value, no matter how funny or unfunny the joke is.

鈥淚t also suggests we respond much better to spontaneous genuine laughter, rather than posed or canned laughter, showing the inherent human joy and value of a natural response.鈥�

The addition of laughter increased how funny the jokes were perceived to be.

There was a significant difference between the baseline ratings and the joke/laughter ratings in neurotypical adults, irrespective of the type of laughter.

The increase in humour was tempered by the kind of laughter; the addition of spontaneous laughs led to jokes being rated as funnier than with the addition of posed laughs.

There was no difference between neurotypical and autistic adult participants in the effect the different types of laughter had on the ratings of the jokes.

Both groups gave higher funniness ratings for jokes paired with spontaneous laughter than with posed laughter.

The only difference between the groups was that those with autism gave all the 40 dad jokes an increased funniness rating, when laughter was added. This may be because neurotypical adults were more aware these 鈥榙ad jokes鈥� are considered childish and uncool, whereas autistic adults are more open to such jokes.

Professor Scott added: 鈥淥ur data suggest that laughter may also influence how funny the comedy is perceived to be, and that people with autism are equally sensitive to this effect.

鈥淭his might suggest that comedy and laughter are more accessible to people with autism than typically considered to be.鈥�

Five jokes from the study:

• What state has the smallest drinks? Mini-soda!
• What does a dinosaur use to pay the bills? Tyrannosaurus cheques!
• What鈥檚 orange and sounds like a parrot? A carrot!
• What do you call a man with a spade on his head? Dug!

Professor Scott added: 鈥淗istorically, TV and radio programmes were always recorded in front of a live studio audience: this allowed those watching and listening to feel part of the performance.

鈥淗owever, as the audience reaction was natural, certain 鈥榗omedy鈥� programmes, which weren鈥檛 overtly funny wouldn鈥檛 get a long laugh, so TV and radio producers increasingly added canned laughter to prompt an audience reaction.听

鈥淭his research shows that while canned laughter does elevate the humour of a comedy, adding real laughter would get a better response. This has been adopted in shows like Friends, which are recorded in front of an audience, with the real laughter amplified during editing for particular jokes that had been well received.鈥�

Links

• Professor Sophie Scott's academic profile
• 果冻影院 Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience
• 果冻影院 Brain Sciences
• Media coverage

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Chris Lane

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