2020-04-01 Reader\'s Digest AUNZ

funnierthejokes,themoreneurons

firedinthejokers’brains.

Butthefiringofthebraincells

occurredonadifferenttimeline,

enhancingtheprocessandmaking

itallthemorepowerful.Whenwe

‘get’a joke,theneuronsareactivated

ina quickburst.Whenweconstruct

a joke,activityinthesamebrainre-

gionsincreasesslowlyaswerackour

brainsfordissimilarelementsthat

wecanlink.Ifappreciatinghumour

isgoodexerciseforourbrains,then

writinga jokeisexerciseonsteroids.

H

umourhelpsourcognitionin

lessobviouswaystoo.Laugh-

terisa naturalstressreliever,

andourbrainsworkbetterwhenthey

aren’tsloweddownbya fogofwor-

ry.In2014,researchersinCalifornia

demonstratedthatelderlysubjects

whowatcheda funnyvideoexperi-

encedsignificantimprovementsin

theirabilitytolearnandretainnew

information,possiblybecausethe

feelingsofmirthreducedlevelsof

cortisol,a stresshormonethathas

beenshowntohinderrecall.

Agoodjokecanfunctionasa re-

leasevalveforthewholebody.“Hu-

mourcanhelpreframestressors,

challenges,ordifficultiesthatseem

insurmountabletoaperson,”says

socia lps ycholog istTomForda nd

co-authorofThePsychologyofHu-

mour. “Ifoneisabletomakelightof

a stressor,thenit doesn’tseemsobig.

Itseemsmoremanageable.”

ResearchersinHongKong,for

instance,demonstratedthatwhen

nursinghomepatientswithchron-

icpainenjoyedjokes,funnybooks,

goof ysinginganddancingona

ThisIs YourBrainonHumour

ThesefMRIscansoftheleftandrighthalvesofthebrainshowhowit responds

todifferenttypesofinformation.Theyellowandorangerepresentgreater

activationthanbaselinebrainfunction,whilebluerepresentssignificantlylower

activationthanbaseline.ScanAisofthebrainlookingata cartoonwitha non-

humorouscaption.InscanB,thebrainislookingata cartoonwitha humorous

caption,whichactivatesmoreneurons.

A B

PHOTO: COURTESY ORI AMIR

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