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
37
Laugh Yourself Smarter