Laughter

LAUGHTER, a complex sequence of expressive and mimetic movements that, under normal conditions, manifests as joyful excitement and cheerfulness. Physiologically, laughter consists of more or less numerous and rapidly successive expiratory thrusts of the respiratory musculature, occurring with tension of the vocal fissure and accompanied by characteristic sounds. Inhalation during this process is somewhat difficult and therefore intensified, but it does not lose its inherent rhythm. The mouth is stretched horizontally by the action of the risorii and zygomatici muscles, and its corners are raised somewhat upward, making a strip of the upper teeth visible; the nasolabial folds are deepened, and the cheeks are inflated and raised somewhat, so they are more sharply demarcated from the lower eyelids; the nostrils are widened, and the chin musculature tenses and 2» 3fr its contours are sharpened, with depressions forming at the border between the cheeks and chin. The eyes are somewhat covered during laughter, and at their outer edge, especially in older people, characteristic ray-like folds form. With very strong laughter, the face reddens and may even take on a bluish tint as a result of disruption of the normal breathing rhythm; the expiratory thrusts become painful, tears appear in the eyes, and extreme forms of laughter resemble crying. The spasmodic contractions of the diaphragm accompanying each thrust often cause strong oscillations in the abdominal musculature, so that during bursts of 'roaring laughter' one has to 'hold one's stomach.' Especially in fat people with flabby musculature, laughter is sometimes expressed almost exclusively by tremors of the abdominal coverings, while the accompanying facial movements of the obese person are barely noticeable. A characteristic feature of laughter in its pronounced forms is its involuntary and irresistible nature. A modified form of laughter is represented by a smirk or smile. It differs in that the type of breathing remains unchanged, expiratory thrusts are absent, and only the face participates in laughter. A smile generally corresponds to less excitement and, under certain conditions, can be produced voluntarily and exhibits various degrees, from slight drawing back of the corners of the mouth or appearance of small dimples on the cheeks to such stretching of the mouth that it differs little from that observed in laughter. Laughter (and a smile) can be combined with extremely different emotions, and the nature of the experience causing laughter does not remain without influence on facial expression: the simple mimicry of laughter from cheerfulness contrasts with more complex mimical expressions of laughter mixed with ill will (sneering), cunning, embarrassment, etc. A special shade of emptiness, foolishness is possessed by the so-called 'grinning of teeth.' Although it is undoubtedly that laughter is basically an expression of pleasure and joy, it is very difficult to precisely define the psychological experience that causes it. Many have attributed decisive importance to its origin to moments of unexpectedness and contrast. Thus, according to Kant, laughter 'is caused by an expectation that is suddenly resolved into nothing.' Spencer considered it a sign of effort that suddenly proves futile. On the contrary, Bergson seeks to adapt the theory of laughter to his general idealistic worldview: for him, laughter and the experience of the comic in general are caused by the appearance in the stream of life of moments of inertia and mechanicalness. Freud, analyzing the mechanism of the psychological situations causing laughter—comicism, humor, and wit—gives primary importance to the pleasure derived from the return to childhood psychological situations through the economy of energy expenditure: according to him, the pleasant mood during laughter is a reproduction of the psychological states of the period when a person coped with his psychological work with minimal energy expenditure, and arises because the prepared affect does not encounter the object for which it was intended. In all these theories, there is much that is artificial, speculative, and idealistic. Laughter occurs only in humans and some higher apes. The grimace of laughter as an expression of joyful excitement is already observed in a three-month-old child, initially differing in very little coordination. In early childhood, it is an expression of pleasure in general and only later differentiates, connecting with various more complex emotions. In psychopathology, laughter has no essential significance. Often occurring in manic states in circular patients, in paralytics, in certain poisonings, etc., it here is a natural consequence of an elevated mood. On the contrary, in schizophrenics, especially in catatonic states, it often represents a partial mimical manifestation of general motor excitement, without a specific psychological basis for it. In hebephrenics, laughter is a partial manifestation of their inherent foolishness. Some schizophrenics are characterized, among other things, by a stereotypical psychological attitude and the mimical expression of sneering. Readiness to laugh, and sometimes simply a grimace of laughter without a corresponding experience, is observed in certain organic brain diseases, for example, in disseminated sclerosis, brain tumors, etc. The frequent appearance of 'organic' laughter in lesions of the visual thalami makes its anatomical connection with this area probable. In certain poisonings affecting the musculature, as well as in severe diseases with toxin-induced changes in the muscle state, there is observed a laughter-like spasm of the mimical musculature (risus sardonicus, sardonic laughter).