Sophie Scott: Why we laugh
सोफी स्कॉट: आपण का हसतो
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.
doing something unusual,
laughing at, but I wanted in.
going, "Hoo hoo!" (Laughter)
what they were laughing at
ते होते
signs in toilets on trains
लिखाणाबाबत.
and could not do
about the English is, of course,
इंग्रजांबाबत
sophisticated sense of humor.
understand anything of that.
I've come to care about it again.
पुन्हा विचार करते.
is just play some examples
people make and how odd that can be,
laughter is as a sound.
than it is like speech.
साम्य दाखवितो भाषेपेक्षा
The first one is pretty joyful.
पहिले हास्य मजेशीर आहे .
मला वाटते त्यांनी श्वास घ्यावा.
where I'm just, like,
like he's breathing out.
(Laughter)
this is a human female laughing.
odd places in terms of making noises.
गोंगाटात नेतो.
what is that?" in French.
अरे देवा काय आहे हे ?
I have no idea.
you have to look at a part of the body
शरीराच्या भागाकडे पहावे लागेल.
don't normally spend much time looking at,
सामान्यपणे लक्ष देत नाहीत
your ribcage all the time.
नेहमीच महत्वाचा आहे
at the moment with your ribcage,
ते श्वसन.
the muscles between your ribs,
हाडांमधील स्नायू वापरता
and contracting your ribcage,
around the outside of your chest
पट्टा लावून बांधले
at that movement,
movement, so that's breathing.
मार्गक्रमण करत असल्याचे दिसेल.
completely differently.
something much more like this.
movements of the ribcage
सूक्ष्म हालचाल करतो
that can do this.
has a mortal enemy,
start to contract very regularly,
sort of zig-zagging,
the air out of you.
of making a sound.
it's having the same effect.
हा परिणाम जाणवतो
Ha! -- gives you a sound.
you can get these spasms,
अनियंत्रित वेदना जाणवतात
these -- (Wheezing) -- things happening.
शिट्टीचा आवाज येतो .
there isn't very much,
everything we think we know
to hear people to say
are the only animals that laugh.
प्राणी आहे .
throughout the mammals.
and well-observed in primates,
with things like tickling.
and all mammals play.
it's associated with interactions.
हास्य निर्माण होते.
a lot of work on this,
खूप अभ्यास केला आहे
more likely to laugh
than if you're on your own,
like conversation.
"When do you laugh?"
about humor and they'll talk about jokes.
हसू येतं सांगतील.
they're laughing with their friends.
hardly ever actually laughing at jokes.
विनोदामुळे हसतो
that you understand them,
part of the same group as them.
हसून प्रमाणित करता .
that you like them.
as talking to them,
of that emotional work for you.
has pointed out, as you can see here,
funny laughs at the start,
when I found my parents laughing,
behaviorally contagious effect.
off somebody else if you know them.
पाहून तुम्ही हसाल
by this social context.
meaning of laughter
is different kinds of laughter,
हसण्याच्या वेगवेगळ्या प्रकारात.
about how human beings vocalize
याबाबत चेता जैविक साक्ष आहे
two kinds of laughs that we have.
अशी शक्यता आहे, की
for helpless, involuntary laughter,
हास्यामागचं चेता जैविक कारण, जेव्हा
screaming about a silly song,
लोळून मूर्खासारखे हसायचे,
than some of that more polite
आचार विचाराशी भिन्न असावा.
which isn't horrible laughter,
as part of their communicative act to you,
they are choosing to do this.
तो एक भाग असतो .
two different ways of vocalizing.
दोन प्रकारचे आवाज विकसित केले आहेत .
are part of an older system
पूर्वीपासूनच मिळालेले आहे .
like the speech I'm doing now.
त्यासच बोलणे म्हणतात जे मी करत आहे
might actually have two different roots.
in more detail.
recordings of people laughing,
ध्वनिमुद्रित केले आहेत .
to make people laugh,
खूप काही करावे लागले .
to produce more posed, social laughter.
नमुन्यासाठी निवडले.
you like your friend,
तो तुमचा मित्र आहे म्हणून.
the joke's all that.
a couple of those.
this laughter is real laughter,
or more voluntary laughter?
Sophie Scott: Posed? Posed.
सोफी स्कॉट: होय
all they had to do was record me
ध्वनिमुद्रित केले
something I knew she wanted to laugh at,
मला माहित होते तिला हसायचे आहे
are good at telling the difference
फरक लोक चांगल्याप्रकारे जाणतात
quite similar with chimpanzees.
चिपांझी माकडाशी आहे .
if they're being tickled
वेगळ्या प्रकारे हसते.
something like that here,
being different from social laughter.
वेगळे असते.
They're higher in pitch.
from your lungs
than you could ever produce voluntarily.
जे तुम्ही तुमच्या इच्छेने करू शकत नाही.
pitch my voice that high to sing.
स्वरापर्यंत मला जाता येत नाही.
contractions and weird whistling sounds,
आवाज काढतात.
is extremely easy,
we might think it sounds a bit fake.
जाणवते
an important social cue.
सामाजिक प्रेरणा ही देतात.
to laugh in a lot of situations,
हसण्यासाठी अनेकदा.
nasality in posed laughter,
if you were laughing involuntarily.
these two different sorts of things.
to see how brains respond
यासाठी स्कॅनिंग केले,
this is a really boring experiment.
real and posed laughs.
त्यांना ठाऊक नव्हते
it was a study on laughter.
to distract them,
is lying listening to sounds.
and when you hear posed laughter,
जेव्हा बनावट हास्य एकता
completely differently,
which lies in auditory cortex,
निळा दिसणारा भाग.
more to the real laughs,
laughing involuntarily,
hear in any other context.
तुम्ही ऐकलेला नसतो.
with greater auditory processing
laughing in a posed way,
associated with mentalizing,
भाग व्यापतो .
somebody else is thinking.
काय विचार करीत असेल याचा
which is completely boring
"A ha ha ha ha ha,"
why they're laughing.
ते का हसत आहेत.
to understand it in context,
at that point in time,
anything to do with you,
why those people are laughing.
तुम्ही उत्सुक असता.
at how people hear real and posed laughter
अनुभव ऐकण्याची आम्हाला संधी मिळाली
we ran with the Royal Society,
ओंनलाईन केला
two questions.
or posed do these laughs sound?
and the posed laughs are shown in blue.
तर निळा भाग बनावट हास्य दर्शवितो.
and better at spotting real laughter.
क्षमता वाढते.
they can't really hear the difference.
जाणता येत नाही.
peak performance in this dataset
late 30s and early 40s.
by the time you hit puberty.
लागत नाही.
by the time your brain has matured
याचा पूर्ण अर्थ कळत नाही
throughout your entire early adult life.
तुम्ही याचा अर्थ शिकत असता.
not, what does the laughter sound like
हे हास्य कसे वाटते
or posed, but we say,
make you want to laugh,
we see a different profile.
आपण नुकतेच नमुने पहिले आहेत.
when you hear laughter.
when I had no idea what was going on.
हसत होते कारण माहित नसतांही.
than the posed laughs,
less contagious to you.
अधिक सांसर्गिक रहात नाही.
really grumpy as we get older,
वैतागत असतो.
understand laughter better,
hearing people laugh to want to laugh.
लागते तुम्हाला हसण्यासाठी
सामाजिक बाबी लागतात .
lay assumptions are incorrect,
there's even more to laughter
we should look at,
people are phenomenally nuanced
खोलवर विचार न करता
set of studies coming out
प्रयोगशाळेत
a longitudinal study with couples.
प्रयोग करीत होतो
men and women, into the lab,
प्रयोगासाठी होती
stressful conversations to have
संभाषण करण्यास दिले
so he can see them becoming stressed.
तणाव मोजला जाई
and he'll say to the husband,
तो पतीला विचारतो
that irritates you."
तुम्ही वैतागता ?"
briefly, you and your partner --
संबंधी असाच विचार करा .
more stressed as soon as that starts.
वैतागतो
people become more stressed.
who manage that feeling of stress
ही तणावाची अनुभूती घेत होते
positive emotions like laughter,
physically feeling better,
unpleasant situation better together,
दोघेही सामोरे जात होते.
in their relationship
समाधान आढळले.
at close relationships,
their emotions together.
नियंत्रित करतात.
to show that we like each other,
आवडत असल्याचे केवळ सांगत नाहीतर
feel better together.
to be limited to romantic relationships.
going to be a characteristic
such as you might have with friends,
young men in the former East Germany
युट्यूबची क्लिप आहे.
their heavy metal band,
करणारे होते.
and the mood is very serious,
बाब गंभीर होती.
what happens in terms of laughter
and how that changes the mood.
आणि त्याने कसा सगळाच नूर बदलला
He's got swimming trunks on,
त्याने पोहण्याचा पेहराव चढविला आहे
They are already laughing, hard.
is it's all very serious
as soon as he doesn't go through the ice,
बर्फातून बाहेर पडला नाही तेथवर
and bone everywhere,
with him standing there going,
I think this is broken,"
त्याचे हाड मोडले आहे
That would be stressful.
हे खूपच दुखद आहे .
with a visibly broken leg laughing,
think we need to go to the hospital now,"
दवाखान्यात जावे लागेल
embarrassing, difficult situation,
actually enjoying there,
a really interesting use,
something like this happening
वडिलांच्या
on the ice in our underpants.
उडया मारीत नव्हतो.
a relative who was being a bit difficult,
नातेवाईक काहीसे दुखी होते .
just before the whole thing started
मी आढळले.
that happened in a 1970s sitcom,
विनोदी टीव्ही शो मध्ये काय झाले ते
I don't know why I'm doing this,
मला कळले नाही.
something from somewhere
त्या प्रसंगाला तोंड देत होते.
together with me.
to find some reason we can do this.
एखादे कारण शोधण्यासाठी असे करतो .
We're going to get through this.
यातून बाहेर पडण्यासाठी
are doing this all the time.
अनेकदा असे करतो.
you don't even notice it.
ते तुम्हाला जाणवत नाही.
how often they laugh,
आपण अनेकदा हसतो ते
when you laugh with people,
तुम्ही काहीतरी करीत असता.
a really ancient evolutionary system
उत्क्रांतीच्या टप्प्यातून जात असता.
to make and maintain social bonds,
सामाजिक बंध जपण्यासाठी.
to make ourselves feel better.
स्वस्थ वाटेल यासाठी .
it's a really ancient behavior
प्राचीन वर्तनाच हा भाग आहे .
and makes us feel better.
नियंत्रण करण्यास .
but mammals. (Laughter)
कोणी नसून सस्तन प्राणी आहोत
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