We all know laughter is good for us. It stimulates the pituitary gland to release its own opiates, which suppresses pain, and it controls the stress chemicals cortisol and epinephrine in the body. Besides the health benefits, laughter makes us feel happy!
Humor psychologist Richard Lewis (no relation to the comedian) at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor has researched the experience of people understanding the essence of a joke. He says our pupils dilate the moment we realize a joke is funny. Lewis used an eye-tracking device to record eye movements and pupil dilation while volunteers read cartoons from the New Yorker magazine. Lewis found that about a half-second after they eyed the part of a cartoon that was crucial to humor, they laughed. This work may assist researchers studying humor-related brain activity with magnetic resonance imaging or electroencephalograph (EEG)…… The Scientific American Day in the Life of Your Brain Judith Horstman
