Editing Laughter (section)

== Brain ==
[[File:Laughing_woman.jpg|thumb|A woman laughing]]
[[File:Laughing Nyahsa GalawebDesign.jpg|thumb|A man laughing]]

[[Neurophysiology]] indicates that laughter is linked with the activation of the [[ventromedial prefrontal cortex]], that produces [[endorphin]]s.<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/14/science/14laughter.html Why Laughter Feels So Good] 13 September 2011 ''[[New York Times]]'' science section.</ref> Scientists have shown that parts of the [[limbic system]] are involved in laughter. This system is involved in emotions and helps us with functions necessary for humans' survival. The structures in the limbic system that are involved in laughter are the [[hippocampus]] and the [[amygdala]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cerebromente.org.br/n13/mente/laughter/page3.html|title=laughter|first=Silvia Helena|last=Cardoso|website=www.cerebromente.org.br}}</ref>

The December 7, 1984, ''[[Journal of the American Medical Association]]'' describes the neurological causes of laughter as follows:

:"Although there is no known 'laugh center' in the brain, its neural mechanism has been the subject of much, albeit inconclusive, speculation. It is evident that its expression depends on neural paths arising in close association with the [[telencephalon|telencephalic]] and [[diencephalon|diencephalic]] centers concerned with [[Respiration (physiology)|respiration]]. Wilson considered the mechanism to be in the region of the mesial thalamus, [[hypothalamus]], and [[subthalamus]]. Kelly and co-workers, in turn, postulated that the [[tegmentum]] near the [[periaqueductal grey]] contains the integrating mechanism for emotional expression. Thus, supranuclear pathways, including those from the limbic system that Papez hypothesised to mediate emotional expressions such as laughter, probably come into [[synapse|synaptic]] relation in the reticular core of the brain stem. So while purely emotional responses such as laughter are mediated by subcortical structures, especially the hypothalamus, and are stereotyped, the [[cerebral cortex]] can modulate or suppress them."

Some drugs are well known for their laughter-facilitating properties (e. g. [[ethanol]] and [[cannabis]]), while the others, like [[salvinorin A]] (the active ingredient of ''[[Salvia divinorum]]''), can even induce bursts of uncontrollable laughter.<ref>{{cite book | last = Turner | first = D.M. | author-link = D. M. Turner | title = Salvinorin—The Psychedelic Essence of Salvia Divinorum | url = http://www.erowid.org/library/books_online/salvinorin/salvinorin.shtml | chapter = Effects and Experiences | chapter-url = http://www.erowid.org/library/books_online/salvinorin/fx.shtml | access-date = 2007-05-20 |date=August 1996 | publisher = Panther Press | location = San Francisco, CA | isbn = 978-0-9642636-2-8}}</ref>

A research article was published December 1, 2000, on the psycho-evolution of laughter (Panksepp 2000).<ref>Jaak Panksepp - [http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1111/1467-8721.00090 The Riddle of Laughter - Neural and Psychoevolutionary Underpinnings of Joy] December 1, 2000 [[Sage Journals]] Accessed October 28th, 2017</ref>