Great Ape Study Traces 15 Million Years of Laughter Rhythm to Language Control
Updated
Updated · Nature.com · Jun 25
Great Ape Study Traces 15 Million Years of Laughter Rhythm to Language Control
3 articles · Updated · Nature.com · Jun 25
Summary
140 laughter bouts from 17 young great apes and humans showed the last common hominid ancestor likely already laughed in an isochronous rhythm, giving researchers a rare proxy for vocal evolution because sound does not fossilize.
Comparative analysis across orangutans, gorillas, bonobos, chimpanzees and humans found laughter grew faster, more variable and more context-sensitive over hominid evolution—traits linked to increasing vocal control.
Tickling laughter was significantly more regular than play laughter, suggesting rough-and-tumble play disrupts breathing patterns; the evolutionary acceleration in tempo was clearest in tickling rather than play.
Humans alone changed laughter tempo by context, producing faster laughter during tickling, while nonhuman great apes showed no such modulation; humans also had the highest tempo variability.
The authors say that progression in rhythmic plasticity places human laughter on a hominid continuum and may mark a precursor to the vocal flexibility needed for speech and language.