When was the last time you laughed? Chances are, you've already done it today. Laughter has social, psychological and physiological functions -- some researchers are even looking to use laughs in therapy. Test who will have the last laugh: you or the Ultimate Laughter Quiz.
What's the term for the recorded laughs played during comical moments on sitcoms and other TV shows?
a laugh track
a laugher box
a laugh-o-tron
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer
We've all heard the unusually loud laughs from laugh tracks after mediocre jokes on TV. If the moment isn't funny, the inappropriate use of a laugh track sure is.
Are people more likely to laugh by themselves or around others?
by themselves
around other people
Research shows there's no difference.
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer
No wonder movies seem funnier in the theater than at home -- people are 30 times more likely to laugh in a social setting than sitting by their lonesome.
We all know that hysterical feeling when someone tickles us, but it's a whole different story if you try to do it yourself. Why is it so hard to tickle yourself?
There's no unease or tension.
Our cerebellums automatically distinguish expected versus unexpected sensations.
Both are correct.
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer
The lack of tension or uneasiness coupled with how the cerebellum reacts to the tickling usually prevents us from successfully tickling ourselves.
Which of the following responses does NOT usually result from a hearty laugh?
increased blood flow
more difficulties sleeping
increased antibodies
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer
There are many health-related responses to laughing, but a poor night's sleep isn't one of them. Laughing is beneficial to your health -- it can lower blood sugar and blood pressure, reduce stress and burn calories.
Laughter has apparently found the funny bones of scientists, because there's a field of study devoted to it. What is the study of laughter called?
philematology
gelotology
psychophysiology
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer
Philematology relates to kissing, while psychophysiology looks at mental phenomena. The study of laughter, or gelotology, is a formal scientific area of study.
Which of the following is a fair representation of the relationship between laughing and exercise?
laughing once = 15 minutes of exercise on a bike
laughing 10 times = 15 minutes of exercise on a bike
laughing 100 times = 15 minutes of exercise on a bike
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer
Laughing is good exercise, but it takes laughing 100 times to equal 15 minutes of exercise on a bike. That's a lot of giggles, so think twice before giving up your workout regimen just yet.
It's not airborne, but it's certainly contagious by sound. Research has shown that test subjects who simply heard laughter usually smiled or started laughing themselves.
Humor varies among people, but what is one of the larger factors that accounts for this difference?
education
geographic area
age
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer
Education and where you live may influence what you think is funny, but differences in age take the cake. What's funny to a kindergartner and a teenager is as different as night and day.
Laughers benefit, to be sure, but researchers are unsure of whether laughing affects longevity. However, laughter is known to block stress. Some even consider it an effective form of therapy.
Which movie popularized the use of humor as a way to treat illness?
'Critical Care'
'John Q'
'Patch Adams'
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer
Dr. Hunter "Patch" Adams was known for clowning around throughout hospitals to entertain and comfort patients. Played by Robin Williams in the 1998 film "Patch Adams," his preference for laughter drove him to open the Gesundheit! Institute to treat people with various illnesses.
Scientists have successfully pinpointed laughter in which region of the brain?
the frontal lobe
the limbic system
Research has found that brain activity during laughter expands across multiple regions of the brain.
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer
Unlike emotion, laughter spans across several regions in the brain. Researchers are coming closer to understanding how this neurological sequence of actions leads to our chuckles.
Though laughter spans across the brain, researchers found that one portion evoked loud and uncontrollable laughter. Which part is it?
the corpus callosum
the amygdala
the hypothalamus
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer
The hypothalamus is the part responsible here. Funny enough, some scientists have even suggested a link between the "urge to laugh" and lesions on the hypothalamus.
