Sophie Scott: Why we laugh
صوفي سكوت: لماذا نضحك
While exploring the neuroscience of speech and vocal behavior, Sophie Scott stumbled upon a surprising second vocation: making audiences laugh as a stand-up comic. Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
to you today about laughter,
by thinking about the first time
I would've been about six.
في حوالي السادسة تقريباً.
doing something unusual,
يفعلان شيئًا غير معتاد،
laughing at, but I wanted in.
ولكنني أردت مشاركتهما.
going, "Hoo hoo!" (Laughter)
what they were laughing at
ما كانا يضحكان عليه
signs in toilets on trains
في مراحيض القطارات
and could not do
على الأشخاص فعله أو عدم فعله
about the English is, of course,
عن الإنجليز، بطبيعة الحال،
sophisticated sense of humor.
understand anything of that.
لم أفهم أي شيء من ذلك.
I've come to care about it again.
عاودني ذلك الإهتمام مجدداً.
is just play some examples
هو أنني سأعرض عليكم بعض الأمثلة
people make and how odd that can be,
التي يصدرونها وكم سيكون ذلك غريباً
laughter is as a sound.
الفطري هو بمثابة صوت.
than it is like speech.
من أنه كلام.
The first one is pretty joyful.
الأول ممتع جداً.
where I'm just, like,
like he's breathing out.
(Laughter)
(ضحك)
this is a human female laughing.
هذه إمرأة تضحك
odd places in terms of making noises.
غريبة من حيث صنع الضجيج.
what is that?" in French.
بالفرنسية.
I have no idea.
لا أدري.
you have to look at a part of the body
تنظروا إلى جزء من الجسد
don't normally spend much time looking at,
علماء الأعصاب
your ribcage all the time.
تستخدمونه على طول الوقت.
at the moment with your ribcage,
هو أنكم تتنفسون.
the muscles between your ribs,
و هي توجد بين الضلوع،
and contracting your ribcage,
around the outside of your chest
محيط صدرك الخارجي
at that movement,
و بدأت تنظر للحركة،
movement, so that's breathing.
و هو ما ندعوه بالتنفس.
completely differently.
بشكل مختلف تماما.
something much more like this.
ترون شيئا شبيها بهذا.
movements of the ribcage
جدا من القفص الصدري
that can do this.
التي تفعل ذلك.
has a mortal enemy,
لهما عدو قاتل،
start to contract very regularly,
بالإنقباض و بشكل منتظم جدا.
sort of zig-zagging,
the air out of you.
of making a sound.
الأساسية لإصدار الأصوات.
it's having the same effect.
فإن لذلك نفس التأثير.
Ha! -- gives you a sound.
تصدر صوتا.
you can get these spasms,
نتيجة لذك تتعرض للتشنج
these -- (Wheezing) -- things happening.
تحدث لك.
there isn't very much,
فليس هناك الكثير
everything we think we know
to hear people to say
سماع الناس يقولون أن
are the only animals that laugh.
الحيوانات الوحيدة التي تضحك
throughout the mammals.
and well-observed in primates,
بين الحيوانات الرئيسية،
with things like tickling.
and all mammals play.
جميع الثدييات تلعب.
it's associated with interactions.
a lot of work on this,
من الجهود في هذا الصدد،
more likely to laugh
بمعدل 30 مرة للضحك أكثر
than if you're on your own,
آخر مقارنة ببقائه وحيدا،
like conversation.
"When do you laugh?"
about humor and they'll talk about jokes.
أو الفكاهة أو النكات.
they're laughing with their friends.
فهم يضحكون برفقة أصدقائهم.
hardly ever actually laughing at jokes.
قليلا ما نضحك بسبب النكات.
that you understand them,
الناس أنكم فهمتموهم،
part of the same group as them.
جزء من نفس المجموعة.
that you like them.
أنكم معجبون بهم.
as talking to them,
الذي تتحدثون فيه إليهم،
of that emotional work for you.
العاطفي الذي تحتاجون إليه.
has pointed out, as you can see here,
كما ترون هنا،
funny laughs at the start,
when I found my parents laughing,
وجدت والدي يضحكان،
behaviorally contagious effect.
سلوكي معدي و بشدة.
بالضحك من شخص آخر،
off somebody else if you know them.
بالضحك من شخص آخر إذا كنت تعرفه.
by this social context.
هذا السياق الإجتماعي.
meaning of laughter
is different kinds of laughter,
هو أنواع الضحك المختلفة،
about how human beings vocalize
كيفية نطق الكائنات البشرية
two kinds of laughs that we have.
نوعين من الضحك.
for helpless, involuntary laughter,
للعاجز و الضحك اللاإرادي،
screaming about a silly song,
يصرخان على وقع أغنية سخيفة،
than some of that more polite
أكثر تهذيبا من
which isn't horrible laughter,
لا يعتبر شيئا سيئا،
as part of their communicative act to you,
من الفعل التواصلي معك،
they are choosing to do this.
إختاروا القيام بهذا.
two different ways of vocalizing.
طريقتين مختلفتين للنطق.
are part of an older system
like the speech I'm doing now.
الكلام و الذي أقوم به الآن.
might actually have two different roots.
له نوعين مختلفين من الجذور.
in more detail.
recordings of people laughing,
أصوات أشخاص يضحكون،
to make people laugh,
لحملهم على الضحك،
to produce more posed, social laughter.
و الإتيان أكثر بضحكات مزيفة.
you like your friend,
the joke's all that.
a couple of those.
this laughter is real laughter,
أن هذه الضحكة حقيقية،
or more voluntary laughter?
لاإرادية أم إرادية أكثر؟
Sophie Scott: Posed? Posed.
سوفي سكوت: متصنع؟ متصنع.
all they had to do was record me
توجب عليهم فعله هو تسجيلي
something I knew she wanted to laugh at,
ما أدري أنها ستضحك عليه،
are good at telling the difference
في التمييز
quite similar with chimpanzees.
يحدث مع الشمبانزي،
if they're being tickled
في حال تعرضه للدغدغة
something like that here,
being different from social laughter.
مختلفان عن الضحك الإجتماعي.
They're higher in pitch.
from your lungs
than you could ever produce voluntarily.
ما يمكنك فعله بشكل إرادي.
pitch my voice that high to sing.
صوتي لتلك الدرجة كي أغني.
contractions and weird whistling sounds,
و لأصوات صفير غريبة،
is extremely easy,
we might think it sounds a bit fake.
نظن أنه يبدو زائفا قليلا.
an important social cue.
هي إشارة إجتماعية مهمة.
to laugh in a lot of situations,
نضحك في كثير من المواقف،
nasality in posed laughter,
في الضحك الزائف،
if you were laughing involuntarily.
كنت تضحك بشكل لا إرادي.
these two different sorts of things.
to see how brains respond
كيف يستجيب الدماغ
this is a really boring experiment.
real and posed laughs.
it was a study on laughter.
to distract them,
is lying listening to sounds.
و سماع الأًصوات
and when you hear posed laughter,
حقيقي و آخر مصطنع،
completely differently,
which lies in auditory cortex,
و التي تقع في القشرة السمعية
more to the real laughs,
أكثر للضحك الحقيقي،
laughing involuntarily,
hear in any other context.
في أي سياق كلام آخر.
with greater auditory processing
laughing in a posed way,
يضحك بشكل مصطنع،
associated with mentalizing,
somebody else is thinking.
which is completely boring
و هو شيء ممل جدا
"A ha ha ha ha ha,"
why they're laughing.
to understand it in context,
at that point in time,
anything to do with you,
why those people are laughing.
at how people hear real and posed laughter
يسمع الناس الضحك الحقيقي و الضحك المصطنع
we ran with the Royal Society,
أجريناها بالتعاون مع الجمعية الملكية،
two questions.
or posed do these laughs sound?
ضحكات حقيقية أم مصطنعة؟
and the posed laughs are shown in blue.
تلك المصطنعة باللون الأزرق.
and better at spotting real laughter.
أفضل في ملاحظة الضحك الحقيقي.
they can't really hear the difference.
لا يستطيع حقيقة سماع الفرق.
peak performance in this dataset
الأداء في مجموعة البيانات هذه
late 30s and early 40s.
الثلاثينات و بداية الأربعينيات من العمر.
by the time you hit puberty.
بمجرد وصولك سن البلوغ.
by the time your brain has matured
وصول عقلك مرحلة النضج
throughout your entire early adult life.
مجمل فترة شبابك.
not, what does the laughter sound like
على ماذا يدل صوت الضحك
or posed, but we say,
make you want to laugh,
راغبا في الضحك،
we see a different profile.
فسنرى لمحات مختلفة.
when you hear laughter.
حين سماعك للضحك.
when I had no idea what was going on.
عندي فكرة عما كان يحدث.
than the posed laughs,
أكثر من تلك المصطنعة،
less contagious to you.
عدوى بالنسبة لك.
really grumpy as we get older,
مع التقدم في العمر،
understand laughter better,
الضحك بشكل أفضل،
hearing people laugh to want to laugh.
يضحكون لتعتريك الرغبة بالضحك.
في هذه الحالة.
lay assumptions are incorrect,
المسبقة خاطئة،
there's even more to laughter
بالضحك أكثر
we should look at,
يجب علينا تسليط الضوء عليها،
people are phenomenally nuanced
set of studies coming out
الدراسات التي ترد
الواقع في كاليفورنيا،
a longitudinal study with couples.
men and women, into the lab,
stressful conversations to have
so he can see them becoming stressed.
حتى يتمكن من رؤيتهما تحت الضغط.
and he'll say to the husband,
that irritates you."
يسبب لك الغضب."
briefly, you and your partner --
more stressed as soon as that starts.
أكثر توترا في لحظة بدء ذلك.
people become more stressed.
who manage that feeling of stress
مع مثل ذلك الشعور بالتوتر
positive emotions like laughter,
physically feeling better,
unpleasant situation better together,
هكذا مواقف مزعجة،
in their relationship
at close relationships,
إلى العلاقات المتينة،
their emotions together.
مع بعضهم البعض.
to show that we like each other,
أننا نهتم ببعضنا البعض،
feel better together.
نتيجة اختلاطنا ببعض.
to be limited to romantic relationships.
في العلاقات الرومانسية.
going to be a characteristic
هذه صفة مميزة
such as you might have with friends,
لتلك التي بين الأصدقاء
young men in the former East Germany
من الشباب في شرق ألمانيا
their heavy metal band,
موسيقى الميتيل خاصتهم،
and the mood is very serious,
what happens in terms of laughter
فيما يتعلق بالضحك
and how that changes the mood.
و يغير من المزاج.
He's got swimming trunks on,
إنه يرتدي رداء للسباحة،
They are already laughing, hard.
هم يضحكون مسبقا و بشدة.
is it's all very serious
أن الأمر برمته جاد جداً
as soon as he doesn't go through the ice,
لم يعبر من خلال الثلج،
and bone everywhere,
عظام في كل مكان،
with him standing there going,
كأنه واقف هناك قائلا
I think this is broken,"
هذا الشيء مكسور"
That would be stressful.
لكان ذلك مسببا للتوتر.
with a visibly broken leg laughing,
يبدو واضحا أنها مكسورة،
think we need to go to the hospital now,"
إلى الذهاب إلى المستشفى الآن،"
embarrassing, difficult situation,
موقف مؤلم ومحرج و صعب،
actually enjoying there,
و هو ما استمتعنا بمشاهدته،
a really interesting use,
something like this happening
شيء مشابه كهذا حدث
on the ice in our underpants.
مرتديين سراويلنا الداخلية
a relative who was being a bit difficult,
لي قريب واجه بعض الصعوبات،
just before the whole thing started
تذكر أني وجدت نفسي
that happened in a 1970s sitcom,
حدث في مسرحية هزلية في السبعينيات،
I don't know why I'm doing this,
أفعل ما أفعل،
something from somewhere
together with me.
to find some reason we can do this.
بعض الأسباب لفعل ذلك.
We're going to get through this.
سنتجاوز ذلك.
are doing this all the time.
you don't even notice it.
حتى من دون أن تلاحظوه.
how often they laugh,
when you laugh with people,
فأنتم تفعلون شيئا،
a really ancient evolutionary system
نظام تطوري ضارب في القدم
to make and maintain social bonds,
على الروابط الإجتماعية،
to make ourselves feel better.
جعل أنفسنا نشعر بحال أفضل.
it's a really ancient behavior
بل هو سلوك ضارب في القدم
and makes us feel better.
نشعر به و يجعلنا شعورنا أفضل.
but mammals. (Laughter)
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Sophie Scott - Neuroscientist, stand-up comicWhile exploring the neuroscience of speech and vocal behavior, Sophie Scott stumbled upon a surprising second vocation: making audiences laugh as a stand-up comic.
Why you should listen
As deputy director of the University College London’s Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, Sophie Scott seeks out the neurological basis of communication, whether it’s speech or vocalized emotion.
As a pioneering researcher in the science of laughter, she’s made some unexpected discoveries -- including that rats are ticklish, and that the one tactic that’s almost guaranteed to get someone to laugh is to show them someone else laughing. But as an occasional stand-up comedian with UCL’s Bright Club, she shows that she’s no slouch at getting laughs herself.
Sophie Scott | Speaker | TED.com