Practice Reading: Tickling and Laughter

The fingers of an outstretched hand are approaching your body; you lean away, folding your torso and tilting your head towards your shoulder in hopes of avoiding a tickle; yet inevitably, you are tickled and burst into uncontrollable laughter. Why do we laugh when tickled?

B

Tickling arises from a light sensation across our skin. Sometimes it causes itching, but more often it induces giggles. When a feather is gently moved across the skin, it can also trigger tickling and laughter. Intense laughter results when pressure is repeatedly applied to sensitive areas such as feet, toes, sides, underarms, and neck, eliciting robust laughter. Yngve Zotterman of the Karolinska Institute found that tickling involves nerve signals associated with both pain and touch. Even individuals who lack pain sensation still laugh when tickled. But why do we laugh? Why can't we tickle ourselves? Which part of the brain controls laughter and humor? Why do some people lack a sense of humor?

C

Research indicates that laughter involves coordinated activity of numerous muscles throughout the body. It also increases blood pressure and heart rate, alters breathing patterns, reduces levels of certain neurochemicals (catecholamines and hormones), and provides a boost to the immune system. Can laughter improve health? It appears to promote relaxation by reducing muscle tension post-laughter. Studies suggest that humorous videos and tapes may alleviate pain, prevent negative stress responses, and enhance the body's natural defenses against infection.

D

Researchers hypothesize that humor and laughter are processed through a complex pathway involving three main brain components. In a recent study, researchers used imaging technology to capture brain activity in healthy volunteers as they engaged in a humorous task: reading written jokes, viewing cartoons from The New Yorker and 'The Far Side,' and listening to recordings of laughter. Initial findings suggest that the pathway for processing humor includes regions of the frontal lobe, crucial for cognitive functions; the supplementary motor area, important for movement; and the nucleus accumbens, associated with pleasure. Studies support the idea that parts of the frontal lobe play a role in humor processing. Participants' brains were scanned while they listened to jokes, revealing activation in a frontal lobe area specifically when they found a joke funny. In a study comparing healthy individuals with those with frontal lobe damage, those with damage were more likely to misinterpret joke punchlines and showed reduced laughter or smiles in response to humorous cartoons or jokes.

E

Despite our understanding of which brain areas are responsible for humor, it remains unclear why we do not laugh or giggle when we tickle ourselves. Darwin proposed in 'The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals' that there is a connection between tickling and laughter, suggesting that anticipation of pleasure plays a role. When we attempt to tickle ourselves, the brain anticipates the sensation and suppresses the tickling response, as seen in studies implicating the cerebellum. This self-tickling inhibition suggests that surprise and tension are necessary for tickling-induced laughter. Researchers such as Christenfeld and Harris further explored tickling and laughter, revealing that people laugh equally whether tickled by a machine or a person, indicating a reflexive response, as Darwin previously hypothesized.

F

Damage to any part of the brain can impair one's ability to process humor. Peter Derks, a psychology professor, collaborated with scientists at NASA-Langley to study brain activity using advanced EEG technology in 10 individuals exposed to humorous stimuli. The speed at which our brain detects incongruity, a key aspect of humor, and attributes abstract meanings to it determines whether we laugh. However, individual preferences for humor vary due to factors such as personality, intelligence, mental state, and mood. Despite these variations, most people recognize humorous situations. Derks observed in his experiments that patients recovering from brain injuries often struggle to differentiate between humorous and non-humorous content.

G

Dr. Shibata from the University of Rochester School of Medicine explained that our neurons respond to jokes. He identified the brain’s 'humor center' located in the right frontal lobe above the right eye, crucial for joke recognition. Dr. Shibata conducted MRI scans on patients to observe brain activity, focusing on areas activated during the punchlines of jokes versus the rest of the joke, and amusing cartoons compared to non-humorous parts. Jokes triggered activity in the frontal lobes, while the nucleus accumbens also showed increased activity, linked to our sense of amusement and 'addiction' to humor. While his study centered on humor, the findings could potentially offer insights into combating depression. Brain regions active during humor are often irregular in depressed patients. Future use of brain scans may aid in diagnosing depression and other mood disorders. The research might also clarify why some stroke patients lose their sense of humor or experience personality changes, as these regions are also involved in social and emotional judgment and planning.

Questions 1-7

The Reading Passage has 7 paragraphs, A-G.

Which paragraph provides the following details?

Write the appropriate letter, A-G, in boxes 1-7 on your answer sheet.

NB You may use any letter more than once.

1  Location of a brain section essential to the recognition of jokes

2   Laughter enhances immunity

3  Individual differences and the appreciation of humour

4  Parts of the brain responsible for tickling reflex

5  Neuropsychological mechanisms by which humor and laughter work

6  The connection between tickling and nerve fibers

7  Patients with emotional disorders

Questions 8-11

Look at the following researchers (listed 8-11) and findings (listed A-F).

Pair each researcher with their corresponding findings.

Write your answers in boxes 8-11 on your answer sheet.

NB There are more findings than researchers. You may choose more than one finding for any of the researchers.

A   The surprise factor, combined with the anticipation of pleasure, cause laughter when tickled.

B   Laughing caused by tickling is a built-in reflex even babies have.

C   People also laugh when tickled by a machine if they are not aware of it.

D   People have different tastes for jokes and humour.

E   Jokes and funny cartoons activate the frontal lobes.

F   Tickling sensations involve more than nerve fibers.

8 Darwin

9 Christenfeld and Harris

10 Yngve Zotterman

11 Peter Derks

Questions 12-14

Complete the summary below using NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the passage for each blank.

Write your answers in boxes 12-14 on your answer sheet.

Researchers believe three brain components to be involved in the processing of humor and laughter Results from one study using brain 12 … indicate that parts of the brain responsible for 13 … movement and pleasure are involved through a sophisticated pathway. Test subjects who suffered from frontal lobes damages had greater chances of picking 14 … of jokes or did not respond to funny cartoons or jokes.

Answers:

1. G (Đoạn G, “The brain’s ‘Tunny bone” is located at the right frontal lobe just above the right eye and appears critical to our ability to recognize a joke.”)

2. C (Đoạn C, “ Laughter also increases blood pressure and heart rate, changes breathing, reduces levels of certain neurochemicals (catecholamines, hormones) and provides a boost to dying immune system.”)

3. F (Đoạn F, “That can be due to a number of factors, including differences in personality, intelligence, mental state and probably mood.”)

4. E (Đoạn E, “That can be due to a number of factors, including differences in personality, intelligence, mental state and probably mood.”)

5. D (Đoạn D, “Preliminary results indicate that the humor-processing pathway includes parts of the frontal lobe brain area, important for cognitive processing the supplementary motor area, important for movement; and the nucleus accumbens, associated with pleasure.”)

6. B (Đoạn B, “Yngve Zotterman from Karolinska Institute has found that tickling sensations involve signals from nerve fibers.”)

7. G (Đoạn G, “Eventually, brain scans might be used to assess patients with depression and other mood disorders.”)

8. A (Đoạn E, “Darwin theorized within “The Expressions of the Emotions in Man and Animals” that there was a link between tickling and laughter because of the anticipation of pleasure. Because we cannot tickle ourselves and have caused laughter, Darwin speculated surprise from another person touching”)

9. C (Đoạn E, “Further explorations to understand tickling and laughter were conducted by Christenfeld and Harris. Within ‘The Mystery of Ticklish Laughter and “Can a Machine Tickleyn they explained that people laughed equally whether tickled by a machine or by a person. The participants were not aware that who or what was tickling them.”)

10. F (Đoạn B, “ Yngve Zotterman from Karolinska Institute has found that tickling sensations involve signals from nerve fibers.”)

11. D (Đoạn B, “Peter Derks, a professor of psychology, …. abstract meaning to it determines whether we laugh. However, different people find different jokes funny.”)

12. imaging equipment (Đoạn D, “In one new study, researchers used imaging equipment to photograph die brain activity of healthy volunteers while they underwent a sidesplitting assignment of reading written jokes,…”)

13. cognitive processing (Đoạn D, “Preliminary results indicate that the humor-processing pathway includes parts of the frontal lobe brain area, important for cognitive processing the supplementary motor area, important for movement…”)