article_snippet: The University College London professor's current research aims to distinguish the difference between fake laughs used during conversation, and involuntary giggles.
article_snippet: the person who laughs most at any one time has carried out brain scans on volunteers listening to expressions of disgust, a real belly laugh and a realistic fake one.
article_snippet: So far, The University College London professor's current research has found that volunteers were almost always able to identify a false laugh.
article_snippet: Meanwhile, MRI scans revealed how hearing real and fake laughter activates two different areas of our brains.
article_snippet: Fake laughter triggers more brain activity – in the medial prefrontal cortex, associated with problem-solving – as we try to work out why the person is doing it.
article_snippet: If you search on the Web of Science database for papers on the emotion of fear, you'll get back 6,477 published papers,' Scott Scott writes on Ted. '
article_snippet: Search for papers on laughter and you'll get a paltry 175.
article_snippet: In a separate study last year, psychologist Dr Carolyn McGettigan from the Royal Holloway University of London measured brain responses of volunteers as volunteers listened to genuine laughter on YouTube clips.
article_snippet: The results were then compared to how their brains responded to fake laughter.
article_snippet: The findings revealed participants, none of which were told the study was about laughter perception, could unconsciously tell when the chuckles were insincere.
article_snippet: psychologist Dr Carolyn McGettigan from the Royal Holloway University of London said: 'It's fascinating to consider the way our brain is able to detect genuine happiness in other people. '