More Laughter and the Brain

Heres some more information that I found during my research for laughter and the brain. The physiological study of laughter is called gelotology.

Relationship between laughter and the brain is not fully understood, but researchers are making progress. They have found that when people laugh the brain produces a regular electrical pattern. Heres how it works, within four tenths of a second of exposure to something that's funny and electrical wave moved through the cerebral cortex, largest part of the brain. If the wave took negative charge, laughter resulted. If the wave maintained a positive charge no response was given.

Research has shown that parts of the limbic system are involved in laughter in the brain. The limbic system system is a very important part of the brain that is involved in emotions and helps us with basic functions that are nessecary for survival. The two structures in the limbic system that are involved in producing laughter are the amygdala and the hippocampus.