This reading is taken from Brown and Lee (2015, pp. 417-418). According to Readable (2020) this text is appropriate for around a grade 8 reading level. This is similar to a CLB 8 level (CCLB 2001).
Laughter ... it's fun ... it's funny ... but why do we do it? What part of the brain is responsible for laughter and humor? There are not many answers to these questions, because there have not been very many experiments on laughter. Part of the reason for this is that laughter is not a big medical problem.
A paper published in the journal Nature (vol. 391, page 650, 1998) called "Electric Current Stimulates Laughter" has provided a bit more information about how the brain is involved with laughter. The paper discussed the case of a 16-year-old girl named "A.K." who was having surgery to control seizures due to epilepsy. During surgery, the doctors electrically stimulated A.K.'s cerebral cortex to map her brain. Mapping of the brain is done to determine the function of different brain areas and to make sure that brain tissue that will be removed does not have an important function.
The doctors found that A.K. always laughed when they stimulated a small 2 cm by 2 cm area on her left superior frontal gyrus (part of the frontal lobe of the brain). This brain area is part of the supplementary motor area. Each time her brain was stimulated, A.K. laughed and said that something was funny. The thing that she said caused her to laugh was different each time. A.K. laughed first, then made up a story that was funny to her. Most people first know what is funny, then they laugh.
The authors of the paper believe that the area of the brain that caused laughter in A.K. is part of several different brain areas, which are important for:
· the emotions produced by a funny situation (emotional part of humor);
· the "getting it" part of a joke (cognitive, thinking part of humor);
· moving the muscles of the face to smile (motor part of humor).
The physiological study of laughter has its own name: "gelotology." Research has shown that laughing is more than just a person's voice and movement. Laughter requires the coordination of many muscles throughout the body. Laughter also:
· increases blood pressure
· increases heart rate
· changes breathing
· reduces levels of certain hormones
· provides a boost to the immune system.
Can laughter improve health? It may be a good way for people to relax, because muscle tension is reduced after laughing. There are some cases when a good deep laugh may help people with breathing problems. Perhaps laughing can also help heart patients by giving the heart a bit of a workout. Some hospitals even have their own "humor rooms," "comedy carts," and clown kids in attempts to speed a patient's recovery and boost morale.
My Adaptation for a CLB 4/5 class:
What makes you laugh? What happens in your body when you laugh? We don't have all the answers to these questions yet. Scientists are studying the brain to try and understand laughter. They have found that certain parts of your brain are involved in laughter. They call this brain mapping.
Doctors tested a 16-year-old girl during brain surgery. When they tested certain areas, she laughed. Then she told a funny story. She had a different story for each time she laughed. This is backwards. We usually hear a funny story and then laugh.
When you laugh, many parts of the body react. Your brain must understand something funny. Your mouth makes sound. Many of your muscles must react. Your heart rate and blood pressure increases.
Laughter is very good for you. It relaxes your muscles. Laughter can help people with breathing problems. It can help you fight off infections, and reduce stress. Hospitals even use laughter to help patients improve. They employ clowns and have humour rooms. So always try and laugh every day!
References:
Brown, D. & Lee, H. (2015). Teaching by principles: An interactive approach to
language pedagogy (Rev. 4th Ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education.
Centre for Canadian Language Benchmarks. (2001) CanTEST Benchmark Table. Retrieved from
Readable (2020) Test your readability. Retrieved from https://readable.com/text/
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