Sophie Scott: Why we laugh
Sophie Scott: ¿Por qué reímos?
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
sobre la primera vez
I would've been about six.
doing something unusual,
haciendo algo inusual,
laughing at, but I wanted in.
pero quería participar.
going, "Hoo hoo!" (Laughter)
y dije: "¡Juu, juu!" (Risas)
what they were laughing at
la gente solía cantar,
signs in toilets on trains
los baños de los trenes
and could not do
y qué no se podía hacer
about the English is, of course,
de los ingleses, claro,
sophisticated sense of humor.
y sofisticado sentido del humor.
understand anything of that.
no entendía nada de eso.
I've come to care about it again.
me interesa de nuevo.
is just play some examples
people make and how odd that can be,
hace la gente y lo extraño que puede ser
laughter is as a sound.
como sonido.
than it is like speech.
animal que al habla.
The first one is pretty joyful.
La primera es bastante alegre.
where I'm just, like,
like he's breathing out.
(Laughter)
(Risas)
this is a human female laughing.
odd places in terms of making noises.
extraños en materia de ruidos.
what is that?" in French.
¿qué es eso?" en francés.
I have no idea.
No tengo idea.
you have to look at a part of the body
hay que mirar una parte del cuerpo
don't normally spend much time looking at,
suelen observar demasiado:
your ribcage all the time.
at the moment with your ribcage,
ahora con la caja torácica,
the muscles between your ribs,
entre las costillas los usamos
aire de los pulmones
and contracting your ribcage,
y contrayendo la caja torácica
around the outside of your chest
alrededor del pecho,
at that movement,
con solo mirar ese movimiento
movement, so that's breathing.
apacible, conforme respiramos.
completely differently.
modo totalmente diferente.
something much more like this.
movements of the ribcage
muy finos de la caja torácica
that can do this.
animales capaces de hacerlo.
has a mortal enemy,
tienen un enemigo mortal,
start to contract very regularly,
a contraerse con mucha regularidad
sort of zig-zagging,
the air out of you.
of making a sound.
de producir un sonido.
it's having the same effect.
tendría el mismo efecto.
Ha! -- gives you a sound.
¡Ja! Produce un sonido.
you can get these spasms,
se dan estos espasmos,
these -- (Wheezing) -- things happening.
(Respira con dificultad)
there isn't very much,
de la risa, no es mucho,
everything we think we know
todo lo que sabemos
to hear people to say
escuchar a la gente decir
únicos animales que reímos.
éramos los únicos animales que ríen.
are the only animals that laugh.
throughout the mammals.
en los mamíferos.
and well-observed in primates,
y observada en primates,
with things like tickling.
and all mammals play.
y todos los mamíferos juegan.
it's associated with interactions.
se la asocia con las interacciones.
a lot of work on this,
mucho este tema,
more likely to laugh
más propensos a reír
than if you're on your own,
que si estamos solos,
like conversation.
como la conversación.
"When do you laugh?"
"¿Cuándo ríes?"
about humor and they'll talk about jokes.
con el humor, con los chistes.
they're laughing with their friends.
ríen con sus amigos.
hardly ever actually laughing at jokes.
difícilmente sea de chistes.
that you understand them,
personas que uno las entiende,
part of the same group as them.
que uno es parte del grupo.
that you like them.
que a uno le agradan.
as talking to them,
of that emotional work for you.
esas emociones por uno.
has pointed out, as you can see here,
como pueden ver aquí,
funny laughs at the start,
graciosas al principio,
when I found my parents laughing,
a mis padres riendo,
behaviorally contagious effect.
de comportamiento contagioso.
off somebody else if you know them.
si ese otro es alguien conocido.
by this social context.
por este contexto social.
meaning of laughter
social de la risa
is different kinds of laughter,
distintos tipos de risas
about how human beings vocalize
de cómo vocalizamos los humanos
two kinds of laughs that we have.
tener 2 tipos de risas.
for helpless, involuntary laughter,
de la risa involuntaria e inevitable,
screaming about a silly song,
riendo por una canción tonta,
than some of that more polite
que la risa social más educada
which isn't horrible laughter,
una risa horrible,
as part of their communicative act to you,
de alguien que se comunica con uno,
they are choosing to do this.
con uno; eligen hacer eso.
two different ways of vocalizing.
dos maneras distintas de vocalizar.
are part of an older system
son parte de un sistema más antiguo
like the speech I'm doing now.
como esta charla que doy ahora.
might actually have two different roots.
tiene dos raíces distintas.
in more detail.
recordings of people laughing,
a las personas riendo,
to make people laugh,
to produce more posed, social laughter.
produzcan una risa social más forzada.
les cuenta un chiste,
you like your friend,
aprecian a su amigo
the joke's all that.
a couple of those.
this laughter is real laughter,
or more voluntary laughter?
o más voluntarias?
Sophie Scott: Posed? Posed.
Sophie Scott: ¿Forzada? Forzada.
all they had to do was record me
solo tuvieron que grabarme
something I knew she wanted to laugh at,
algo que sabía le haría gracia,
are good at telling the difference
para notar la diferencia
quite similar with chimpanzees.
similar en los chimpancés.
if they're being tickled
si les hacen cosquillas
unos con otros,
something like that here,
being different from social laughter.
es diferente de la risa social.
They're higher in pitch.
prolongadas. Son más agudas.
from your lungs
than you could ever produce voluntarily.
ejercemos voluntariamente.
pitch my voice that high to sing.
cantar con una voz tan alta.
contractions and weird whistling sounds,
contracciones y silbidos extraños,
is extremely easy,
verdadera es muy fácil,
we might think it sounds a bit fake.
podríamos pensar que suena un poco falsa.
an important social cue.
es una señal social importante.
to laugh in a lot of situations,
en muchas situaciones,
nasalidad en la risa forzada,
nasality in posed laughter,
con la risa involuntaria.
if you were laughing involuntarily.
dos tipos de risas diferentes.
these two different sorts of things.
to see how brains respond
ver cómo responde el cerebro
this is a really boring experiment.
realmente aburrido.
real and posed laughs.
risas reales y forzadas.
it was a study on laughter.
un estudio sobre la risa.
to distract them,
para distraerlos;
is lying listening to sounds.
and when you hear posed laughter,
y risas forzadas
completely differently,
totalmente diferente
which lies in auditory cortex,
que cae en la corteza auditiva,
more to the real laughs,
responden más a la risa real,
laughing involuntarily,
hear in any other context.
oiría en otro contexto.
with greater auditory processing
mayor procesamiento auditivo
laughing in a posed way,
riendo de manera forzada,
associated with mentalizing,
asociadas a la mentalización,
somebody else is thinking.
persona está pensando.
which is completely boring
algo totalmente aburrido,
"A ha ha ha ha ha,"
"Ja, ja, ja, ja, ja, ja",
why they're laughing.
to understand it in context,
entenderla en contexto,
at that point in time,
respecta, en ese momento,
anything to do with you,
nada que ver con uno,
why those people are laughing.
por qué la gente se ríe.
at how people hear real and posed laughter
personas oyen risas reales y forzadas
we ran with the Royal Society,
que hicimos con la Royal Society,
two questions.
or posed do these laughs sound?
o forzadas sonaban esas risas.
and the posed laughs are shown in blue.
y las forzadas en azul.
and better at spotting real laughter.
detección de la risa real.
they can't really hear the difference.
no pueden oír la diferencia.
peak performance in this dataset
al máximo rendimiento
late 30s and early 40s.
principios de los 40.
by the time you hit puberty.
la risa en la pubertad.
by the time your brain has matured
cuando el cerebro ha madurado
throughout your entire early adult life.
toda la vida temprana de adulto.
not, what does the laughter sound like
de decir cómo suena la risa
or posed, but we say,
y en cambio decimos
make you want to laugh,
we see a different profile.
vemos un perfil diferente.
when you hear laughter.
when I had no idea what was going on.
cuando no tenía idea de qué pasaba.
than the posed laughs,
contagiosa que la risa forzada,
less contagious to you.
todo se vuelve menos contagioso.
really grumpy as we get older,
understand laughter better,
hearing people laugh to want to laugh.
una risa para querer reír.
muy interesante
lay assumptions are incorrect,
presunciones incorrectas,
there's even more to laughter
we should look at,
que deberíamos observar
people are phenomenally nuanced
expresan muchos matices
set of studies coming out
a longitudinal study with couples.
men and women, into the lab,
hombres y mujeres, al laboratorio
stressful conversations to have
so he can see them becoming stressed.
para verlos estresarse.
and he'll say to the husband,
y le dice al marido:
that irritates you."
que a ti te irrite".
briefly, you and your partner --
Uds. y su pareja--
more stressed as soon as that starts.
más tenso cuando esto empieza.
people become more stressed.
las personas se tensan.
who manage that feeling of stress
que manejan esa tensión
positive emotions like laughter,
positivas como la risa,
physically feeling better,
físicamente se sienten mejor,
unpleasant situation better together,
desagradable, juntos,
in their relationship
en sus relaciones
at close relationships,
relaciones cercanas
extraordinariamente útil
their emotions together.
sus emociones juntas.
to show that we like each other,
para mostrar aprecio mutuo,
feel better together.
to be limited to romantic relationships.
a las relaciones románticas.
going to be a characteristic
such as you might have with friends,
cercanas como las amistades
young men in the former East Germany
de la antigua Alemania del Este
their heavy metal band,
su banda de heavy metal.
and the mood is very serious,
el ambiente es muy serio.
what happens in terms of laughter
en materia de risas
and how that changes the mood.
y cómo cambia el humor.
He's got swimming trunks on,
Tiene el traje de baño,
They are already laughing, hard.
Se ríen con ganas.
is it's all very serious
es que todo es muy serio
as soon as he doesn't go through the ice,
como no atraviesa el hielo
and bone everywhere,
ni huesos por todas partes,
with him standing there going,
con él allí diciendo:
I think this is broken,"
creo que me rompí algo",
That would be stressful.
Nos pondría tensos.
with a visibly broken leg laughing,
riendo con una fractura expuesta,
think we need to go to the hospital now,"
que tenemos que ir al hospital ahora",
embarrassing, difficult situation,
embarazosa y difícil
actually enjoying there,
graciosa que disfrutamos
a really interesting use,
something like this happening
on the ice in our underpants.
el hielo en calzoncillos.
a relative who was being a bit difficult,
tenía un pariente un poco difícil,
just before the whole thing started
antes de que todo empezara
that happened in a 1970s sitcom,
ocurrido en una comedia de 1970,
I don't know why I'm doing this,
por qué estoy haciendo esto,
something from somewhere
together with me.
reír conmigo.
to find some reason we can do this.
encontrar alguna razón para hacerlo.
We're going to get through this.
Vamos a superar esto.
are doing this all the time.
lo hacemos todo el tiempo.
you don't even notice it.
que no lo notamos.
how often they laugh,
when you laugh with people,
a really ancient evolutionary system
sistema evolutivo muy antiguo
to make and maintain social bonds,
para crear y mantener vínculos sociales
to make ourselves feel better.
que nos hagan sentir mejor.
it's a really ancient behavior
es un comportamiento muy antiguo
and makes us feel better.
sentimos y nos hace sentir mejor.
en materia de risas,
but mammals. (Laughter)
más que mamíferos.
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