Vsause Kevin here it's comedy week here at Youtube and I was just wondering
Hey Kevin where do you want all this stuff (laughter)
Why do we laugh when someone falls
why would you laugh
he's gonna tell us
Well according to William F Fry founder of Gelotology which is the science of the effects of laughter
the fall happens in a play frame
This is a real life event in a non-serious context
because if Tod fell off the empire state building the results would be mortally threatening quite serious and not very funny
but if he's just casualy walking trips and falls that creates the play frame
in which I know he's not going to be hurt and I can safely laugh at him
well why is laughing the response?
laughing is thought to be a way of releasing cognitive energy
our brains are constantly analyzing calculating and trying to predict whats going to happen next
so if someone tosses you a baseball you can compute where to move your hand to catch it
so laughter might just be a release of the energy of our thoughts
okay but why is laughter such a common and universal response to someone falling
falling is an incongruity to a typical and boring event like walking
its a sudden outcome that we didn't expect and as long as the person is okay
then our energy as the observer gets burned off or released in the form of laughter instead of say panic or concern
and that reaction might not be societal or culturally influenced at all
so someone in China or Georgia or Iceland would all laugh at their friend falling down
because it might just naturally be in our brains to react that way
inside our brains some Neurologists have observed mirror neurons
these are neurons that fire inside an observers brain that mirrors those of someone else performing an action
so in the case of somebody falling down
your mirror neurons would actually make it feel as if you were the one falling and flailing and feeling silly
instantaneously recreating the brain activity of the person who's actually falling
stimulating you physiologically
tickling your brain
now without a lot of research on mirror neurons that are some doubts regarding their roles or even their existence
but the fact remains: laughing is good for you
and not just in obvious ways like reducing stress but in physical ways like benefiting vascular health
laughing is in our blood
so check out some funny videos during comedy week exercise those laugh muscles
and as always...
hmm a banana peel
thanks for watching
(laughter) where do you want these two bottles of water huge pile of napkins and plates