Challenges

Question: What’s a sleeping brain’s favorite band? Answer: REM.
If that silly joke elicited a laugh, then you just got a little brain boost, says cognitive neuroscientist Scott Weems, author of the 2014 book Ha! The Science of When We Laugh and Why.
The benefits of laughter extend far beyond the obvious intersocial bonding; humor can be downright good for our health, especially our brains. That’s because different parts of the brain are involved in creating a laughter response to a humor stimulus.
A study looking at which parts of the brain light up in an MRI scanner while a subject views a funny cartoon or listens to a silly joke shows visual or auditory center engagement (depending on whether the joke is “shown” or “told”). Humor also sparks activity in the anterior cingulate cortex — a structure deep inside the front of the brain that regulates emotions, decision-making and impulse control as well as blood pressure and heart rate.
No matter how the funny matter is delivered, our gray matter responds. “The funnier [that] people find the jokes, the more active the anterior cingulate is,” Weems says.
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