Editing Laugh track (section)

==Effects==
In order to gauge the continued relevance of Douglass's laugh track, a study was published in 1974 in the ''[[Journal of Personality and Social Psychology]]'' that concluded people were still more likely to laugh at jokes that were followed by canned laughter.<ref name=hatelaff>{{cite news|first=Cari|last=Nierenberg|title=We may hate laugh tracks – but they work, studies show|work=NBC News|publisher=NBCUniversal|date=September 23, 2011|url=http://bodyodd.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/09/23/7906846-we-may-hate-laugh-tracks-but-they-work-studies-show|access-date=January 6, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120105171152/http://bodyodd.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/09/23/7906846-we-may-hate-laugh-tracks-but-they-work-studies-show|archive-date=2012-01-05|url-status=dead}}</ref> ''[[That Girl]]'' co-creator [[Sam Denoff]] commented in 1978 that "laughter is social. It's easier to laugh when you're with people." Denoff added "in a movie theatre, you don't need a laugh track, but at home, watching TV, you're probably alone or with just a few others."<ref name="Levin"/>

[[Dartmouth College]] psychology professor Bill Kelley gauged the necessity of the laugh track, particularly on U.S. sitcoms. He stated "we're much more likely to laugh at something funny in the presence of other people." Kelley's research compared students' reactions to an episode of ''Seinfeld'', which utilizes a laugh track, to those watching ''The Simpsons'', which does not. Brain scans suggested that viewers found the same things funny and the same regions of their brain lit up whether or not they heard others laughing. Despite this, Kelley still found value in the laugh track. "When done well," Kelley commented, "they can give people pointers about what's funny and help them along. But when done poorly, you notice a laugh track and it seems unnatural and out of place."<ref name=hatelaff/>

A 2017 study by Andreas M. Baranowski and colleagues at [[University of Mainz]] further explored the effects of laugh tracks, expanding the research to include other audience reactions such as canned screaming. The researchers conducted three experiments with a total of 110 participants, comparing the influence of laugh tracks, scream tracks, and no audience sound on the perception of comedy, horror, and neutral film scenes. Their findings reinforced prior studies, showing that laugh tracks increased amusement, particularly for material that was only mildly funny. However, unlike laugh tracks, canned scream tracks did not significantly heighten fear responses. When real confederates provided audience reactions, the effects were even stronger, demonstrating that social cues—whether live or recorded—play a significant role in shaping emotional reactions to media. The study also found that congruent audience reactions enhanced viewer immersion, with comedies being most engaging when accompanied by laughter and horror films most immersive when paired with screams. These results suggest that audience reactions, even artificial ones, can alter a viewer’s perception and emotional engagement with media content.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Baranowski |first1=Andreas M. |last2=Teichmann |first2=Rebecca |last3=Hecht |first3=Heiko |title=Canned Emotions: Effects of Genre and Audience Reaction on Emotions |journal=Art & Perception |date=2017 |volume=5 |issue=4 |pages=312–336 |doi=10.1163/22134913-00002068}}</ref>