doing that. But the brain is like a mus-
cle, and it needs exercise. What gives
the brain a workout? Information.
When researchers asked people to
look at a series of pictures while their
brains were being scanned in an fMRI
machine, it was the more complex
images—a work of art, a sprawling
vista, a group of animals—that tickled
the neurons in their heads most.
It’s the activation of those neurons—us smarter and healthier. There is even
some evidence that a sense of humor
helps the human species survive.T
o understand why humor
is a kind of superfood for the
brain, it helps to know what
our brains crave in the first place. You
might think they’d prefer when we sit
alone in a room and stare at a blank
wall—we don’t burn up much energyOri Amir takes
his field of study
seriously. When
he’s not in the lab
studying humor and
the brain, he can be
found performing
stand-up comedy.Photograph by Miquel Gonzalez rd.com 57