and I just want to start by thinking about the first time

大家好，我們今天來談笑聲，

I can ever remember noticing laughter.

我想從回想我自己第一次

This is when I was a little girl. I would've been about six.

注意到笑聲開始說起。

And I came across my parents doing something unusual,

那時我還是一個小女孩， 大概六歲左右。

where they were laughing.

我正好看見我的父母 在做一件不太尋常的事，

They were laughing very, very hard.

他們當時正在笑。

They were lying on the floor laughing.

他們笑得非常非常開心。

They were screaming with laughter.

他們笑倒在地板上。

I did not know what they were laughing at, but I wanted in.

他們尖聲大笑。

I wanted to be part of that,

我不知道他們在笑什麼， 但我想和他們一起笑。

and I kind of sat around at the edge going, "Hoo hoo!" (Laughter)

我想成為這個笑聲的一部分，

Now, incidentally, what they were laughing at

我就坐在他們旁邊， 叫著 「呵呵！」（笑聲）

was a song which people used to sing,

順帶一提， 他們當時在笑的

which was based around signs in toilets on trains

是當時流行的一首歌，

telling you what you could and could not do

這首歌把火車廁所的 標示寫進詞裡，

in toilets on trains.

告訴你在火車廁所裡，

And the thing you have to remember about the English is, of course,

什麼可以做， 什麼不可以做。

we do have an immensely sophisticated sense of humor.

有件事你們一定要記得， 當然就是我們英國人

(Laughter)

的確有著無限複雜的幽默感。

At the time, though, I didn't understand anything of that.

（笑聲）

I just cared about the laughter,

但是，我當時並不理解這些，

and actually, as a neuroscientist, I've come to care about it again.

我只是很在意笑聲，

And it is a really weird thing to do.

而且其實現在身為神經學家， 我開始重新關注這個問題。

What I'm going to do now is just play some examples

笑真的是一件非常奇怪的事。

of real human beings laughing,

我現在要放幾段

and I want you think about the sound people make and how odd that can be,

真人在笑的例子，

and in fact how primitive laughter is as a sound.

我想讓大家想想人類發出的聲音， 這些聲音可以多麼奇怪，

It's much more like an animal call than it is like speech.

以及，笑聲是一種多麼原始的聲音。

So here we've got some laughter for you. The first one is pretty joyful.

笑聲更像是動物的叫聲， 而不像說話。

(Audio: Laughing)

現在來聽聽這幾段笑聲。 第一段還挺好笑。

Now this next guy, I need him to breathe.

（音訊：笑聲）

There's a point in there where I'm just, like,

下一段的傢伙得去喘口氣。

you've got to get some air in there, mate,

有一段到了一個地步，

because he just sounds like he's breathing out.

我說老兄你真的需要吸氣，

(Audio: Laughing)

因爲他聽起來真像喘不過氣了。

This hasn't been edited; this is him.

（音訊：笑聲）

(Audio: Laughing) (Laughter)

這没有被編輯過， 就是他在笑。

And finally we have -- this is a human female laughing.

（音訊：笑聲） （笑聲）

And laughter can take us to some pretty odd places in terms of making noises.

最後，我們有一段女人的笑聲。

(Audio: Laughing)

從發出聲音的角度來看， 笑聲能讓我們聯想到奇怪的地方。

She actually says, "Oh my God, what is that?" in French.

（音訊：笑聲）

We're all kind of with her. I have no idea.

她其實在用法語說： 「我的天啊，這是什麼東西？」

Now, to understand laughter, you have to look at a part of the body

應該是這樣吧？我也不知道。

that psychologists and neuroscientists don't normally spend much time looking at,

要理解笑聲， 你必須去觀察身體的某部分，

which is the ribcage,

心理學家和神經學家 通常不會花很多時間去觀察這部分，

and it doesn't seem terribly exciting,

就是胸腔，

but actually you're all using your ribcage all the time.

聽起來沒什麼了不起喔？

What you're all doing at the moment with your ribcage,

但事實上你一直在使用你的胸腔。

and don't stop doing it, is breathing.

你無時無刻都在使用你的胸腔，

So you use the intercostal muscles, the muscles between your ribs,

千萬不要停止使用它， 因為你在呼吸。

to bring air in and out of your lungs

你使用肋間肌， 也就是在你肋骨之間的肌肉

just by expanding and contracting your ribcage,

來擴張及收縮你的胸腔，

and if I was to put a strap around the outside of your chest

讓空氣進出你的肺，

called a breath belt, and just look at that movement,

如果我把一條帶子 繞在你的胸腔外部，

you see a rather gentle sinusoidal movement, so that's breathing.

叫它呼吸帶吧， 然後看它的移動，

You're all doing it. Don't stop.

你會看見緩和的正旋起伏律動， 那就是呼吸。

As soon as you start talking,

你們全都在做這件事。 不要停止。

you start using your breathing completely differently.

一旦你開始說話，

So what I'm doing now is you see something much more like this.

你的呼吸會變得完全不同。

In talking, you use very fine movements of the ribcage

所以我現在做的就很像這樣。

to squeeze the air out --

在說話的時候， 你的胸腔進行細微的運動

and in fact, we're the only animals that can do this.

把空氣擠出去。

It's why we can talk at all.

事實上，我們是唯一 可以這樣做的動物。

Now, both talking and breathing has a mortal enemy,

這也就是為什麼我們能說話。

and that enemy is laughter,

說話及呼吸有個致命的敵人，

because what happens when you laugh

那個敵人就是笑，

is those same muscles start to contract very regularly,

因為當你在笑的時候，

and you get this very marked sort of zig-zagging,

同樣的那群肌肉會開始規律地收縮，

and that's just squeezing the air out of you.

你就會得到這樣 非常顯著的鋸齒狀訊號，

It literally is that basic a way of making a sound.

這只是把空氣擠出你的肺，

You could be stamping on somebody, it's having the same effect.

也是發出聲音的基本原理。

You're just squeezing air out,

這套用到所有人身上 都有一樣的效果。

and each of those contractions -- Ha! -- gives you a sound.

你只是把空氣擠出去，

And as the contractions run together, you can get these spasms,

每一次的收縮「哈！」 都讓你發出聲音。

and that's when you start getting these -- (Wheezing) -- things happening.

當這些收縮彼此相連的時候， 就有這些痙攣，

I'm brilliant at this. (Laughter)

所以你就會有（喘氣聲） 這樣的聲音。

Now, in terms of the science of laughter, there isn't very much,

這個我超會。 （笑聲）

but it does turn out that pretty much everything we think we know

要講笑的科學， 這並沒有太大的意義。

about laughter is wrong.

但是這告訴我們 基本上我們對笑的認知

So it's not at all unusual, for example, to hear people to say

都是錯的。

humans are the only animals that laugh.

所以舉個例子， 我們一點也不意外

Nietzsche thought that humans are the only animals that laugh.

有人說人類是唯一會笑的動物。

In fact, you find laughter throughout the mammals.

尼采就認為人類是唯一會笑的動物。

It's been well-described and well-observed in primates,

事實上，很多哺乳類動物都會笑。

but you also see it in rats,

靈長類的這種現象 已有很完整的觀察和紀錄，

and wherever you find it --

但是你也能在老鼠身上看到，

humans, primates, rats --

不管你在哪裡看到

you find it associated with things like tickling.

──人類、靈長類、老鼠──

That's the same for humans.

都會發現這和搔癢 這類的事件有關係。

You find it associated with play, and all mammals play.

人類也一樣。

And wherever you find it, it's associated with interactions.

你會發現這和玩樂有關， 所有的哺乳類都會玩樂。

So Robert Provine, who has done a lot of work on this,

不論你在哪裡看到， 這都和互動有關。

has pointed out that you are 30 times more likely to laugh

羅伯特．普范對這做過很多研究，

if you are with somebody else than if you're on your own,

他指出當你跟別人在一起的時候，

and where you find most laughter

你笑的機會 比你獨自一人的時候多 30 倍，

is in social interactions like conversation.

你聽到最多笑聲的地方，

So if you ask human beings, "When do you laugh?"

是在有社會互動的時候，像是對話。

they'll talk about comedy and they'll talk about humor and they'll talk about jokes.

如果你問人類： 「你什麼時候會笑？」

If you look at when they laugh, they're laughing with their friends.

他們會說到喜劇、 會說到幽默、會說到笑話。

And when we laugh with people, we're hardly ever actually laughing at jokes.

當你觀察他們什麼時候笑， 他們是與朋友一同歡笑。

You are laughing to show people that you understand them,

當我們與人同樂的時候， 我們幾乎不是因為笑話而笑，

that you agree with them, that you're part of the same group as them.

你用笑來表達你了解他們，

You're laughing to show that you like them.

表示你同意他們， 表示你是團體的一份子。

You might even love them.

你用笑來表示你喜歡他們。

You're doing all that at the same time as talking to them,

甚至是愛他們。

and the laughter is doing a lot of that emotional work for you.

你在和他們說話的同時 也做出上述所有的事。

Something that Robert Provine has pointed out, as you can see here,

笑幫助你表達這樣的情緒。

and the reason why we were laughing

羅伯特．普凡說過， 如同你在此所見，

when we heard those funny laughs at the start,

我們在開頭聽到滑稽笑聲 跟著笑的原因，

and why I was laughing when I found my parents laughing,

還有我在聽到我父母笑 而跟著笑的原因，

is that it's an enormously behaviorally contagious effect.

是因為這是一種極具 傳染性的行為。

You can catch laughter from somebody else,

你會因別人笑而跟著笑，

and you are more likely to catch laughter off somebody else if you know them.

如果你認識笑的那個人， 你跟著笑的機率更高。

So it's still modulated by this social context.

這依然受到社會脈絡的控制。

You have to put humor to one side

你得把幽默感放一邊，

and think about the social meaning of laughter

然後去思考笑的社會意義，

because that's where its origins lie.

因為那是笑的根本來源。

Now, something I've got very interested in is different kinds of laughter,

我對各種不同的笑很有興趣，

and we have some neurobiological evidence about how human beings vocalize

根據神經生物學 關於人類如何發聲的證據，

that suggests there might be two kinds of laughs that we have.

學者提出笑分成兩種。

So it seems possible that the neurobiology for helpless, involuntary laughter,

這意味著在神經生物學上， 不由自主、無法控制的笑，

like my parents lying on the floor screaming about a silly song,

就像我父母因為一首滑稽的歌 笑倒在地上尖叫，

might have a different basis to it than some of that more polite

可能和你所見到的社交禮儀上的笑 有不同的根源，

social laughter that you encounter, which isn't horrible laughter,

這種禮貌的笑並不可怕，

but it's behavior somebody is doing as part of their communicative act to you,

而是他們對你表現社交的一部分，

part of their interaction with you; they are choosing to do this.

是和你互動的一部分； 他們選擇這麼做。

In our evolution, we have developed two different ways of vocalizing.

我們在演化過程中 發展出兩種發聲方式。

Involuntary vocalizations are part of an older system

非自主的發聲屬於較古老系統，

than the more voluntary vocalizations like the speech I'm doing now.

比自主性的發聲系統還老， 我現在演講就是自主性發聲。

So we might imagine that laughter might actually have two different roots.

我們可以想像 笑有兩個不同的根源。

So I've been looking at this in more detail.

於是我深入研究。

To do this, we've had to make recordings of people laughing,

為了研究， 我們得錄製人們的笑聲，

and we've had to do whatever it takes to make people laugh,

我們也必須想盡辦法讓人們笑，

and we got those same people to produce more posed, social laughter.

我們也設法讓同一群人產生 更做作、社交式的笑。

So imagine your friend told a joke,

想像你朋友說了一個笑話，

and you're laughing because you like your friend,

然後你笑了， 因為你喜歡你朋友，

but not really because the joke's all that.

並不是因為笑話本身好笑。

So I'm going to play you a couple of those.

我要放幾段給你們聽。

I want you to tell me if you think this laughter is real laughter,

我希望你們告訴我 你們覺得這是真的在笑，

or if you think it's posed.

還是做做樣子。

So is this involuntary laughter or more voluntary laughter?

這是自然發笑還是刻意的笑？

(Audio: Laughing)

（音訊：笑聲）

What does that sound like to you?

你們覺得聽起來如何？

Audience: Posed. Sophie Scott: Posed? Posed.

聽眾：做做樣子。 蘇菲．史考特：做做樣子？沒錯。

How about this one?

那這個呢？

(Audio: Laughing)

（音訊：笑）

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

I'm the best.

我最會笑了。

(Laughter) (Applause)

（笑聲）（掌聲）

Not really.

開玩笑的。

No, that was helpless laughter,

那是無法控制的笑。

and in fact, to record that, all they had to do was record me

事實上要錄這段，他們只需要錄下

watching one of my friends listening to something I knew she wanted to laugh at,

我看我的朋友 聽一段我知道她一定會笑的東西，

and I just started doing this.

我就笑成這樣了。

What you find is that people are good at telling the difference

你會發現人們其實很能分辨

between real and posed laughter.

真笑與假笑。

They seem to be different things to us.

兩種笑對我們來說是不同的。

Interestingly, you see something quite similar with chimpanzees.

有趣的是，你在大猩猩身上 也能觀察到類似現象。

Chimpanzees laugh differently if they're being tickled

大猩猩在被搔癢時候

than if they're playing with each other,

和在玩的時候， 笑的方式不一樣，

and we might be seeing something like that here,

在這裡我們也能看到類似情形，

involuntary laughter, tickling laughter, being different from social laughter.

自然發笑、搔癢的笑， 和社交的笑是不同的。

They're acoustically very different.

聽起來就很不一樣。

The real laughs are longer. They're higher in pitch.

真正的笑持續較久，音調較高。

When you start laughing hard,

你用力笑的時候，

you start squeezing air out from your lungs

你會把空氣擠出你的肺，

under much higher pressures than you could ever produce voluntarily.

這比你故意做的任何動作 產生的壓力都還要大。

For example, I could never pitch my voice that high to sing.

例如，我絕對無法 用那麼高的音調來唱歌。

Also, you start to get these sort of contractions and weird whistling sounds,

你也會有類似這種收縮 和奇怪的哨聲，

all of which mean that real laughter is extremely easy,

這些都意味著真的笑很容易，

or feels extremely easy to spot.

或讓人覺得很容易分辨。

In contrast, posed laughter, we might think it sounds a bit fake.

相反的，做作的笑， 我們可能認為這聽起來有點假。

Actually, it's not, it's actually an important social cue.

其實並非如此。 這種笑真的是很重要的社交線索。

We use it a lot, we're choosing to laugh in a lot of situations,

我們很常使用， 我們在許多場合中選擇笑，

and it seems to be its own thing.

而且這種笑聲似乎很獨特。

So, for example, you find nasality in posed laughter,

舉個例子， 你在做作的笑中發現鼻音，

that kind of "ha ha ha ha ha" sound

那種像「哈哈哈哈」的音，

that you never get, you could not do, if you were laughing involuntarily.

你永遠無法在非自主性的笑中 聽到或發出這種聲音。

So they do seem to be genuinely these two different sorts of things.

這兩種不同的東西似乎都很真實。

We took it into the scanner to see how brains respond

我們以掃描器看腦部 在我們聽到笑聲時的反應。

when you hear laughter.

做這個實驗 真的是無聊到極點，

And when you do this, this is a really boring experiment.

我們就是播放人 真笑與假笑的聲音。

We just played people real and posed laughs.

我們沒有告訴他們 這是對笑聲的研究。

We didn't tell them it was a study on laughter.

我們同時還播放 其他的聲音讓他們分心，

We put other sounds in there to distract them,

他們要做的就是躺在那裡聽。

and all they're doing is lying listening to sounds.

我們不告訴他們要做什麼。

We don't tell them to do anything.

然而，你聽到真笑與假笑的時候，

Nonetheless, when you hear real laughter and when you hear posed laughter,

腦部的反應迥然不同，

the brains are responding completely differently,

顯著不同。

significantly differently.

你們看到這塊藍色的區域， 位於聽覺皮質，

What you see in the regions in blue, which lies in auditory cortex,

是腦部對真笑 有較多反應的地方，

are the brain areas that respond more to the real laughs,

情況似乎是這樣，

and what seems to be the case,

當你聽到非自主的笑時，

when you hear somebody laughing involuntarily,

你會聽到在其他情況下 都不會聽到的聲音。

you hear sounds you would never hear in any other context.

這非常明確，

It's very unambiguous,

這可能與要處理這些新聲音

and it seems to be associated with greater auditory processing

需要更大的聽覺處理歷程有關。

of these novel sounds.

相反的，聽到做作的笑聲時，

In contrast, when you hear somebody laughing in a posed way,

你看到的是這塊粉紅色區域，

what you see are these regions in pink,

位於大腦與心智化有關的區域，

which are occupying brain areas associated with mentalizing,

思索著別人在想什麼。

thinking about what somebody else is thinking.

我想這意味著，

And I think what that means is,

即使你正在掃描大腦， 這是件極其無聊、

even if you're having your brain scanned, which is completely boring

沒什麼樂趣的事，

and not very interesting,

當你聽到有人「呵呵呵呵」笑時，

when you hear somebody going, "A ha ha ha ha ha,"

你仍然想搞懂他們為什麼笑。

you're trying to work out why they're laughing.

笑聲永遠都有意義。

Laughter is always meaningful.

你總是想知道 背後的情境是什麼，

You are always trying to understand it in context,

即使在那個當下， 在你關心的範圍內，

even if, as far as you are concerned, at that point in time,

那個笑與你一點關係都沒有，

it has not necessarily anything to do with you,

你還是很想知道 為什麼這些人在笑。

you still want to know why those people are laughing.

我們有機會看不同年齡層的人

Now, we've had the opportunity to look at how people hear real and posed laughter

如何聽真笑與假笑。

across the age range.

這是個網路實驗， 我們與皇家學會合作，

So this is an online experiment we ran with the Royal Society,

我們在實驗中只問大家兩個問題。

and here we just asked people two questions.

第一，他們聽到一些笑聲，

First of all, they heard some laughs,

他們必須說出 這些笑聲有多真或多假？

and they had to say, how real or posed do these laughs sound?