Unlike humour, laughter is much easier to understand and study scientifically. For instance, TV producers have long known that adding pre-recorded laugh tracks makes people find you funnier than when they don't hear that laughter.
Provine went on to revolutionise the way we understand laughter, by taking it out of the lab and observing people having a laugh in public spaces. He demonstrated that people are vastly more likely to laugh in the presence of others—30 times more likely, in fact.
More often, we’re using laughter as a form of social communication, a non-verbal way of identifying something as a positive interaction.
Laughter isn't unique to humans; apes enjoy being tickled, while kea parrots have a distinct warble to call others to fun, and even rats emit an ultrasonic giggle when playing.
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