Researchers of a new study found that fake laughter can fool others only one-third of the time.
How often have you pretended to laugh at other people's jokes, just to please them? Ever wonder whether your fake laughter has fooled them or not? The answer is probably not! UCLA communication experts conducted a study and found that people can fool others with a fake laugh only one-third of the time.
There are small subtleties in your breathing when you fake a laugh that gives you away, the researchers said in a news release.
"Quite a few fake laughs sound pretty good, but listeners seem to pay attention to certain acoustic features that are really hard to fake," Greg Bryant, an associate professor of communication studies at UCLA said in the statement.
This is the first study that looked into the acoustic differences between fake and genuine laughter and how people have the ability to distinguish between these sounds. For the study Bryant collected recordings of 18 impromptu conversations between college roommates. From these recording, he collected 18 genuine laughter sessions. He then asked a group of college students to laugh on command and collected 18 such recordings. Both sets of recordings were played to three groups of college undergraduates. The participants were asked to identify whether the laughter recorded was genuine or fake.
When the participants heard the recordings for the first time, they were fooled by 37 percent of the fake laughs. For the second round the recordings were sped up and played, due to which the participants were fooled by 50 percent of the fake laughs.
For the third round, the recordings were slowed down and the participants were asked to identify whether the laugh was made by humans or animals. While participants were not able to determine whether the genuine laughs were by humans or animals, they were able to determine that the fake laughs belonged to humans.
The researchers also highlighted that though many animals laugh, only humans have the ability to fake it.
"Genuine laughs are produced by an emotional vocal system that humans share with all primates, whereas fake laughs are produced by a speech system that is unique to humans," he said. "Altering the speeds of the two types of laughs helps highlight the distinct properties of both vocal systems."
Earlier this year, University of London researchers found that people can recognize whether a person is truly happy or not from his laughter.
"It's fascinating to consider the way our brain is able to detect genuine happiness in other people," said Dr McGettigan, lead author of the study in a press statement. "Our brains are very sensitive to the social and emotional significance of laughter."
The new study was published in the current issue of the journal Evolution and Human Behavior.
