Sophie Scott: Why we laugh
Sophie Scott: Porque é que nos rimos
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.
devia ter cerca de seis anos.
doing something unusual,
a fazer uma coisa estranha,
laughing at, but I wanted in.
mas queria juntar-me a eles.
going, "Hoo hoo!" (Laughter)
what they were laughing at
signs in toilets on trains
and could not do
about the English is, of course,
que os ingleses
muito sofisticado.
sophisticated sense of humor.
understand anything of that.
eu não percebi nada.
I've come to care about it again.
voltei a pensar nisso.
is just play some examples
people make and how odd that can be,
pessoas fazem e como podem ser esquisitos
laughter is as a sound.
é o som do riso.
than it is like speech.
animais do que a palavra.
The first one is pretty joyful.
O primeiro é muito alegre.
where I'm just, like,
like he's breathing out.
(Laughter)
this is a human female laughing.
odd places in terms of making noises.
coisas estranhas no que se refere aos sons.
what is that?" in French.
"Meu deus, o que é isso?"
I have no idea.
com ela, pois eu não faço ideia.
you have to look at a part of the body
de olhar para a parte do corpo
don't normally spend much time looking at,
geralmente não examinam muito de perto,
your ribcage all the time.
neste momento,
at the moment with your ribcage,
os músculos entre as costelas,
the muscles between your ribs,
e fazê-lo sair,
and contracting your ribcage,
em volta do tórax,
around the outside of your chest
at that movement,
conforme respiramos.
movement, so that's breathing.
de modo totalmente diferente.
completely differently.
vê-se mais ou menos isto.
something much more like this.
mais subtis da caixa torácica
movements of the ribcage
that can do this.
has a mortal enemy,
têm um inimigo mortal.
começam a contrair-se muito regularmente
start to contract very regularly,
sort of zig-zagging,
the air out of you.
of making a sound.
it's having the same effect.
o mesmo efeito.
- Ah - produz um som.
Ha! -- gives you a sound.
juntas, podemos ter estes espasmos,
you can get these spasms,
que as coisas acontecem.
these -- (Wheezing) -- things happening.
there isn't very much,
riso, não há muita coisa,
everything we think we know
sobre o riso é errado.
to hear people to say
ouvir pessoas dizerem
são os únicos animais que riem.
are the only animals that laugh.
throughout the mammals.
e observado em primatas,
and well-observed in primates,
with things like tickling.
a coisas como as cócegas.
and all mammals play.
e todos os mamíferos brincam.
it's associated with interactions.
está associado a interações.
a lot of work on this,
trabalhos sobre o riso,
more likely to laugh
mais hipóteses de rir
than if you're on your own,
do que se estivermos sozinhos.
like conversation.
como nas conversas.
"When do you laugh?"
"Quando é que te ris?"
about humor and they'll talk about jokes.
e de anedotas.
they're laughing with their friends.
ela estará a rir-se com os seus amigos.
hardly ever actually laughing at jokes.
raramente rimos de piadas.
that you understand them,
que as entendemos,
part of the same group as them.
que fazemos parte do mesmo grupo.
Até podemos amá-las.
that you like them.
conversamos com elas.
as talking to them,
trabalho emocional para nós.
of that emotional work for you.
como podem ver aqui,
has pointed out, as you can see here,
funny laughs at the start,
encontrei os meus pais a rir —
when I found my parents laughing,
extremamente contagioso.
behaviorally contagious effect.
pelo riso de outra pessoa,
se essa pessoa for nossa conhecida.
off somebody else if you know them.
contexto social.
by this social context.
meaning of laughter
is different kinds of laughter,
são os diferentes tipos de riso.
about how human beings vocalize
sobre como os humanos vocalizam,
two kinds of laughs that we have.
dois tipos de riso.
for helpless, involuntary laughter,
para o riso involuntário, incontrolável,
screaming about a silly song,
a gritar com uma música idiota —
than some of that more polite
da dos risos sociais mais educados.
which isn't horrible laughter,
as part of their communicative act to you,
que comunica connosco,
they are choosing to do this.
que ela opta por fazer isso.
two different ways of vocalizing.
dois modos de vocalização.
are part of an older system
dum sistema mais antigo
like the speech I'm doing now.
como a minha fala agora.
might actually have two different roots.
duas raízes distintas.
in more detail.
recordings of people laughing,
gravações de pessoas a rir
necessário para que elas rissem.
to make people laugh,
to produce more posed, social laughter.
para fazerem um riso social forçado.
nos conta uma piada
you like your friend,
propriamente dita.
the joke's all that.
a couple of those.
this laughter is real laughter,
acham que este riso é genuíno,
or more voluntary laughter?
ou voluntário?
Sophie Scott: Posed? Posed.
SS: Forçado? Forçado.
all they had to do was record me
que eu sabia que ela havia de achar graça.
something I knew she wanted to laugh at,
are good at telling the difference
são boas em perceber a diferença
quite similar with chimpanzees.
parecida nos chimpanzés.
quando lhes fazem cócegas
if they're being tickled
uns com os outros.
something like that here,
é diferente do riso social.
being different from social laughter.
prolongados, são mais agudos.
They're higher in pitch.
from your lungs
que fazemos voluntariamente.
than you could ever produce voluntarily.
cantar com uma voz tão aguda.
pitch my voice that high to sing.
e assobios estranhos.
contractions and weird whistling sounds,
real é extremamente fácil,
is extremely easy,
extremamente fácil de detetar.
we might think it sounds a bit fake.
o riso forçado soa um pouco a falso.
an important social cue.
é um sinal social importante.
to laugh in a lot of situations,
rir em muitas situações,
nasality in posed laughter,
nasalidade no riso forçado,
if you were laughing involuntarily.
se nos ríssemos involuntariamente.
these two different sorts of things.
dois tipos diferentes de coisas.
to see how brains respond
como reage o cérebro ao ouvir rir.
this is a really boring experiment.
real and posed laughs.
it was a study on laughter.
um estudo sobre o riso.
to distract them,
para distraí-las,
is lying listening to sounds.
and when you hear posed laughter,
risos reais e risos forçados,
completely differently,
totalmente diferente,
which lies in auditory cortex,
que estão no córtex auditivo,
more to the real laughs,
que reagem aos risos reais,
laughing involuntarily,
a rir involuntariamente.
hear in any other context.
ouviríamos noutro contexto.
with greater auditory processing
processamento auditivo maior
laughing in a posed way,
a rir de um modo forçado,
associated with mentalizing,
associadas com a mentalização,
somebody else is thinking.
está a pensar.
o nosso cérebro está a ser observado,
which is completely boring
e nem sequer interessante,
"A ha ha ha...",
"A ha ha ha ha ha,"
why they're laughing.
porque é que ele está a rir.
to understand it in context,
entendê-lo no contexto.
at that point in time,
anything to do with you,
aquelas pessoas estão a rir.
why those people are laughing.
pessoas ouvem o riso real e o forçado,
at how people hear real and posed laughter
fizemos com a Royal Society.
we ran with the Royal Society,
apenas duas perguntas.
two questions.
eram reais ou forçados .
or posed do these laughs sound?
vermelho e os forçados a azul.
and the posed laughs are shown in blue.
melhores em identificar o riso real.
and better at spotting real laughter.
they can't really hear the difference.
conseguem ouvir a diferença.
peak performance in this dataset
desempenho máximo neste gráfico
late 30s and early 40s.
começo dos 40 anos.
by the time you hit puberty.
quando chegamos à puberdade.
by the time your brain has matured
antes de o cérebro atingir a maturidade
throughout your entire early adult life.
longo de toda a vida adulta.
not, what does the laughter sound like
não perguntarmos como soa o riso
ou forçado, mas perguntarmos
or posed, but we say,
make you want to laugh,
deu vontade de rir,
we see a different profile.
encontramos um perfil diferente.
when you hear laughter.
quando ouvimos o riso.
when I had no idea what was going on.
os meus pais sem saber porquê.
than the posed laughs,
do que o riso forçado,
menos contagioso.
less contagious to you.
really grumpy as we get older,
à medida que envelhecemos,
understand laughter better,
entendemos melhor o riso
hearing people laugh to want to laugh.
que ouvir pessoas a rir.
lay assumptions are incorrect,
suposições são erradas.,
there's even more to laughter
we should look at,
importante que devemos ver,
people are phenomenally nuanced
têm muitos matizes
set of studies coming out
encantador
a longitudinal study with couples.
longitudinal com casais.
men and women, into the lab,
stressful conversations to have
so he can see them becoming stressed.
observando-os a ficarem tensos.
and he'll say to the husband,
that irritates you."
mulher faz que o irrita."
briefly, you and your partner --
vocês e o vosso parceiro —
more stressed as soon as that starts.
tensa logo que isso começa.
people become more stressed.
pessoas ficam mais tensas.
who manage that feeling of stress
que gerem essa tensão,
positive emotions like laughter,
como o riso,
physically feeling better,
unpleasant situation better together,
desagradável em conjunto.
altos níveis de satisfação na sua relação
in their relationship
at close relationships,
relações mais próximas,
their emotions together.
emoções em conjunto.
to show that we like each other,
para mostrar que gostamos um do outro,
feel better together.
melhor juntos.
to be limited to romantic relationships.
às relações românticas.
going to be a characteristic
característica
such as you might have with friends,
tais como as que temos com amigos,
young men in the former East Germany
jovens da ex-Alemanha de Leste
their heavy metal band,
a sua banda de metal pesado.
and the mood is very serious,
e o ambiente é muito sério.
what happens in terms of laughter
o que acontece em termos de riso
and how that changes the mood.
como o humor muda.
molhar-se.
He's got swimming trunks on,
They are already laughing, hard.
Já estão a rir, a rir muito.
is it's all very serious
que é tudo muito sério
as soon as he doesn't go through the ice,
mas não há sangue nem ossos espalhados,
and bone everywhere,
with him standing there going,
que partiste qualquer coisa",
I think this is broken,"
That would be stressful.
uma perna partida, e os amigos:
with a visibly broken leg laughing,
que ir ao hospital"
think we need to go to the hospital now,"
difícil e constrangedora,
embarrassing, difficult situation,
que nos diverte.
actually enjoying there,
muito interessante
a really interesting use,
isso está sempre a acontecer.
duma coisa deste tipo
something like this happening
em roupas menores.
on the ice in our underpants.
a relative who was being a bit difficult,
just before the whole thing started
antes de tudo começar,
acontecera numa série dos anos 70.
that happened in a 1970s sitcom,
I don't know why I'm doing this,
porque é que estou a fazer isto",
a ir buscar uma coisa
something from somewhere
together with me.
to find some reason we can do this.
uma razão para fazer isso.
We're going to get through this.
Vamos superar isto.
are doing this all the time.
que nem damos por isso.
you don't even notice it.
how often they laugh,
com que rimos,
when you laugh with people,
quando rimos com as pessoas,
a really ancient evolutionary system
evolutivo muito antigo
to make and maintain social bonds,
para criar e manter vínculos sociais,
to make ourselves feel better.
para fazer com que nos sintamos melhor.
it's a really ancient behavior
é um comportamento antigo
and makes us feel better.
e faz com que nos sintamos melhor.
no que respeita ao riso
but mammals. (Laughter)
de 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