Study on the mechanism of laughter based on the James-Lange theory in the brain

2019 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 16K12444
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Cognitive science
• Research Institution: Kyoto University
• Principal Investigator: Osaka Naoyuki 京都大学, 文学研究科, 名誉教授 (20113136)
• Project Period (FY): 2016-04-01 – 2020-03-31
• Keywords: 笑い / ジェームス・ランゲ説（末梢説） / 社会脳 / 機能的磁気共鳴画像法（fMRI） / 情動 / 自己と他者

Outline of Final Research Achievements

In the origin and process of the occurrence of laughter, two major theories have been proposed: One is the Cannon-Bird (C-B) theory (central theory) which states the emotion causes laughter. The other is the James- Lange (J-L) theory (peripheral theory) which states the physical change causes emotion. “Funny because it is laughing”, and “laughing because it is funny” are based on C-B and J-L theory, respectively. We explored how facial feedback modulates emotional experience of laughter.
We asked participants to hold pronouncing utterance shape with their teeth-only or lips-only to simulate facial expressions. Behavioral data suggested that a happier emotions associated with teeth-only condition during reading a funny comic strips. The results, using functional resonance imaging (fMRI), suggested supporting data that can be interpreted by the J-L view. Results suggested activations in the right orbitofrontal, medial prefrontal cortex and related brain areas under funny conditions.

Free Research Field

実験心理学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

笑いは他者との共感や相互理解を生む社会脳の重要な機能であるが、その脳科学的研究はほとんど行われていない。笑いは豊かな社会生活を営む情動ともかかわる。笑いがJ-L説でも解釈可能であると考えて、fMRIをとくにfacial feedback仮説から検討した。脳画像解析の結果から、右半球の前頭眼窩領域などに活動が認められ、J-L説が支持されたと考えた。