Sophie Scott: Why we laugh
蘇菲‧史考特: 我們為什麼笑
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.
大概六歲左右。
在做一件不太尋常的事,
doing something unusual,
laughing at, but I wanted in.
但我想和他們一起笑。
going, "Hoo hoo!" (Laughter)
叫著 「呵呵!」(笑聲)
what they were laughing at
他們當時在笑的
signs in toilets on trains
標示寫進詞裡,
and could not do
什麼不可以做。
about the English is, of course,
當然就是我們英國人
sophisticated sense of humor.
understand anything of that.
I've come to care about it again.
我開始重新關注這個問題。
is just play some examples
people make and how odd that can be,
這些聲音可以多麼奇怪,
laughter is as a sound.
than it is like speech.
而不像說話。
The first one is pretty joyful.
第一段還挺好笑。
where I'm just, like,
like he's breathing out.
就是他在笑。
(Laughter)
(笑聲)
this is a human female laughing.
odd places in terms of making noises.
笑聲能讓我們聯想到奇怪的地方。
what is that?" in French.
「我的天啊,這是什麼東西?」
I have no idea.
you have to look at a part of the body
你必須去觀察身體的某部分,
don't normally spend much time looking at,
通常不會花很多時間去觀察這部分,
your ribcage all the time.
at the moment with your ribcage,
因為你在呼吸。
也就是在你肋骨之間的肌肉
the muscles between your ribs,
and contracting your ribcage,
繞在你的胸腔外部,
around the outside of your chest
然後看它的移動,
at that movement,
那就是呼吸。
movement, so that's breathing.
不要停止。
completely differently.
something much more like this.
你的胸腔進行細微的運動
movements of the ribcage
that can do this.
可以這樣做的動物。
has a mortal enemy,
start to contract very regularly,
sort of zig-zagging,
非常顯著的鋸齒狀訊號,
the air out of you.
of making a sound.
都有一樣的效果。
it's having the same effect.
都讓你發出聲音。
Ha! -- gives you a sound.
就有這些痙攣,
you can get these spasms,
這樣的聲音。
these -- (Wheezing) -- things happening.
(笑聲)
there isn't very much,
這並沒有太大的意義。
everything we think we know
基本上我們對笑的認知
to hear people to say
我們一點也不意外
are the only animals that laugh.
throughout the mammals.
已有很完整的觀察和紀錄,
and well-observed in primates,
這類的事件有關係。
with things like tickling.
and all mammals play.
所有的哺乳類都會玩樂。
it's associated with interactions.
這都和互動有關。
a lot of work on this,
more likely to laugh
than if you're on your own,
比你獨自一人的時候多 30 倍,
like conversation.
"When do you laugh?"
「你什麼時候會笑?」
about humor and they'll talk about jokes.
會說到幽默、會說到笑話。
他們是與朋友一同歡笑。
they're laughing with their friends.
hardly ever actually laughing at jokes.
我們幾乎不是因為笑話而笑,
that you understand them,
part of the same group as them.
表示你是團體的一份子。
that you like them.
也做出上述所有的事。
as talking to them,
of that emotional work for you.
has pointed out, as you can see here,
如同你在此所見,
跟著笑的原因,
funny laughs at the start,
而跟著笑的原因,
when I found my parents laughing,
傳染性的行為。
behaviorally contagious effect.
你跟著笑的機率更高。
off somebody else if you know them.
by this social context.
meaning of laughter
is different kinds of laughter,
about how human beings vocalize
關於人類如何發聲的證據,
two kinds of laughs that we have.
for helpless, involuntary laughter,
不由自主、無法控制的笑,
screaming about a silly song,
笑倒在地上尖叫,
than some of that more polite
有不同的根源,
which isn't horrible laughter,
as part of their communicative act to you,
they are choosing to do this.
他們選擇這麼做。
two different ways of vocalizing.
發展出兩種發聲方式。
are part of an older system
like the speech I'm doing now.
我現在演講就是自主性發聲。
笑有兩個不同的根源。
might actually have two different roots.
in more detail.
recordings of people laughing,
我們得錄製人們的笑聲,
to make people laugh,
to produce more posed, social laughter.
更做作、社交式的笑。
you like your friend,
因為你喜歡你朋友,
the joke's all that.
a couple of those.
你們覺得這是真的在笑,
this laughter is real laughter,
or more voluntary laughter?
Sophie Scott: Posed? Posed.
蘇菲.史考特:做做樣子?沒錯。
all they had to do was record me
something I knew she wanted to laugh at,
聽一段我知道她一定會笑的東西,
are good at telling the difference
也能觀察到類似現象。
quite similar with chimpanzees.
if they're being tickled
笑的方式不一樣,
something like that here,
和社交的笑是不同的。
being different from social laughter.
They're higher in pitch.
from your lungs
產生的壓力都還要大。
than you could ever produce voluntarily.
用那麼高的音調來唱歌。
pitch my voice that high to sing.
和奇怪的哨聲,
contractions and weird whistling sounds,
is extremely easy,
we might think it sounds a bit fake.
我們可能認為這聽起來有點假。
an important social cue.
這種笑真的是很重要的社交線索。
to laugh in a lot of situations,
我們在許多場合中選擇笑,
nasality in posed laughter,
你在做作的笑中發現鼻音,
if you were laughing involuntarily.
聽到或發出這種聲音。
these two different sorts of things.
to see how brains respond
在我們聽到笑聲時的反應。
this is a really boring experiment.
真的是無聊到極點,
real and posed laughs.
真笑與假笑的聲音。
it was a study on laughter.
這是對笑聲的研究。
其他的聲音讓他們分心,
to distract them,
is lying listening to sounds.
and when you hear posed laughter,
completely differently,
which lies in auditory cortex,
位於聽覺皮質,
more to the real laughs,
有較多反應的地方,
laughing involuntarily,
hear in any other context.
都不會聽到的聲音。
with greater auditory processing
laughing in a posed way,
associated with mentalizing,
somebody else is thinking.
which is completely boring
這是件極其無聊、
"A ha ha ha ha ha,"
why they're laughing.
to understand it in context,
背後的情境是什麼,
at that point in time,
在你關心的範圍內,
anything to do with you,
為什麼這些人在笑。
why those people are laughing.
at how people hear real and posed laughter
我們與皇家學會合作,
we ran with the Royal Society,
two questions.
這些笑聲有多真或多假?
or posed do these laughs sound?
假笑則以藍色顯示。
and the posed laughs are shown in blue.
你辨識真笑的能力愈來愈好。
and better at spotting real laughter.
they can't really hear the difference.
你表現就好一點,
peak performance in this dataset
這組資料集顯示
才會達到顛峰。
late 30s and early 40s.
by the time you hit puberty.
你對於笑聲不甚了解。
by the time your brain has matured
throughout your entire early adult life.
not, what does the laughter sound like
我們不問這笑聲是真是假,
or posed, but we say,
make you want to laugh,
we see a different profile.
我們會看到不同的圖。
when you hear laughter.
加入笑的行列。
when I had no idea what was going on.
卻完全搞不清楚發生什麼事嗎?
than the posed laughs,
比假的笑更具傳染力,
less contagious to you.
笑聲對你愈來愈不具傳染力。
really grumpy as we get older,
understand laughter better,
你愈來愈明白笑聲的含意,
hearing people laugh to want to laugh.
你還需要知道更多。
非常有意思的行為現象,
lay assumptions are incorrect,
there's even more to laughter
we should look at,
重要社交情緒,
people are phenomenally nuanced
運用笑聲的方式
set of studies coming out
a longitudinal study with couples.
men and women, into the lab,
stressful conversations to have
so he can see them becoming stressed.
觀察他們變得多緊張。
and he'll say to the husband,
然後他跟丈夫說:
that irritates you."
會惹你生氣。」
briefly, you and your partner --
你和你的另一半──
每個人都會有點緊張。
more stressed as soon as that starts.
people become more stressed.
看到大家都變更緊張了。
who manage that feeling of stress
帶過緊張情緒的夫婦,
positive emotions like laughter,
physically feeling better,
unpleasant situation better together,
面對這種不愉快的情況,
in their relationship
at close relationships,
如果你去看親密關係,
their emotions together.
to show that we like each other,
來顯示我們喜歡彼此,
feel better together.
to be limited to romantic relationships.
going to be a characteristic
such as you might have with friends,
如你與朋友的關係,
young men in the former East Germany
是一些前東德的年輕人
their heavy metal band,
and the mood is very serious,
what happens in terms of laughter
and how that changes the mood.
又如何改變氣氛。
He's got swimming trunks on,
他穿著泳褲,
They are already laughing, hard.
他們已經笑得很大聲了。
is it's all very serious
是這原本非常嚴肅,
as soon as he doesn't go through the ice,
但是沒有真的掉進去,
and bone everywhere,
with him standing there going,
站起來說:
I think this is broken,"
我想這裡斷了。」
這可能會很緊張。
That would be stressful.
邊到處跑還邊笑,
with a visibly broken leg laughing,
「亨利,我想我們現在得去趟醫院,」
think we need to go to the hospital now,"
尷尬、困難的情況,
embarrassing, difficult situation,
我們其實還挺喜歡的,
actually enjoying there,
a really interesting use,
我還記得類似的情況
something like this happening
on the ice in our underpants.
本大會現場在加拿大。)
a relative who was being a bit difficult,
我有個親戚變得有點難伺候,
我發現自己
just before the whole thing started
that happened in a 1970s sitcom,
某個情境喜劇的劇情,
I don't know why I'm doing this,
我幹嘛在這時候做這個,
something from somewhere
together with me.
to find some reason we can do this.
We're going to get through this.
我們能共度難關。
are doing this all the time.
you don't even notice it.
how often they laugh,
其實是在做某件事,
when you laugh with people,
a really ancient evolutionary system
to make and maintain social bonds,
建立及維持社會連繫,
to make ourselves feel better.
讓我們感覺更好。
it's a really ancient behavior
這是非常古老的行為,
and makes us feel better.
並讓我們感覺更好。
but mammals. (Laughter)
(另類樂團諷刺歌詞)
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