f MRIscansinbright,almostpsy-
chedeliccolours.Infact,thereisan
almostdrug-likeeffecttakingplace.
Thebrainisfilledwithopioidre-
ceptors– yes,opioid,asinthedrug.
Madeofspecialisedproteins,these
receptorspokeoutofourneurons
liketinyradioantennasdesigned
topickuppassingsignals.When
therightkindofmolecule
bumpsintoareceptor
- perhapsoneofthe
body’s naturally
occurring opi-
oids,suchasan
endorphin,ora
synthetic drug
designedtolook
likeone,suchas
morphine– itcan
kickoffacascade
ofbrainactivitythat
bathestheneuronsin
feel-goodneurotransmit-
tersandotherchemicals.Themore
neuronsthatareactivated(andthe
moreactivatedtheyare),themore
pleasurewefeel.Inessence,learn-
ingandproblemsolvinggetushigh.
Amirandhismentor,professorof
neuroscienceandpsycholog yIrving
Biederman,suspectedthathumour
mightfeedthebraininmuchthe
samewaythatcomplexinformation
does.Peoplewhostudyhumourgen-
erallyagreethatmostjokesarebuilt
aroundanincongruity– aninappro-
priate,absurd,surprisingorunusual
combination of two fundamentally
differentideasorelements.(Towit:
a 1.9metreneuroscientistina f luffy
furcoatandconstructionboots.)
Whenwefirstseeorhearthismash-
up,we’reconfused.That’sthesetup.
Thepunchlineistheresolutionof
thatconfusion.(Oh,thisishisidea
ofbusinesscasual!Wocka-wocka.)
Sointhatsense,appreciatinghu-
mourisnotunlikesolving
a puzzle,andityieldsa
similarkindofsatis-
faction.Insteadof
an‘aha’moment,
yougeta‘haha’
moment.Infact,
Biedermanand
Amirtheorised
thatbecausehu-
mourrequiresthe
brain to process
lotsofdistincttypes
of information(What
isconsidered appropri-
atebusinessattire?IsiteverOKto
wearfur?),funnyrevelationswould
activatedifferentandmoredispa-
ratepartsofthebrainthanunfunny
ones.Thiswouldexcitetheneurons
evenmore,whichwouldleadtothe
releaseofmoreneurotransmitters
andactivationoftherewardcentres
ofthebrain.
Totesttheirhypothesis,Amirand
Biedermanrecruited 15 students
toview 200 simplelinedrawings
duringanf MRIscan.Eachdrawing
camewithtwocaptions:an‘obvious’
description and an ‘interpretive’one.Themoreneurons
thatareactivated,
themorepleasure
wefeel.Inessence,
learning andproblem
solvingget
us high35
Laugh Yourself Smarter