WEBVTT - Clap, Clap, Clap Your Hands 0:00:03.080 --> 0:00:05.960 Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind from how Stuff 0:00:06.000 --> 0:00:14.440 Works dot com. Hey, welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind. 0:00:14.480 --> 0:00:16.720 My name is Robert Lamb and I'm Julie Douglas. Save 0:00:16.760 --> 0:00:19.560 your applause, because when we were talking about applause in 0:00:19.600 --> 0:00:21.880 this episode, I don't know if you do applaud us 0:00:21.920 --> 0:00:24.560 after a weird done um as you're listening to us 0:00:24.560 --> 0:00:26.880 in your car, on the train, or in your bed. 0:00:26.920 --> 0:00:30.240 But I hope I just assumed everyone applauded when we finished. Well, 0:00:30.280 --> 0:00:32.080 hold on a second, let's just let's just listen to 0:00:32.120 --> 0:00:34.320 a little bit of applause. Let's really soak it in. 0:00:44.320 --> 0:00:46.600 I feel better already. Yeah. I knew they loved this. 0:00:47.000 --> 0:00:49.480 I knew it. Um. You know, we are, of course 0:00:49.520 --> 0:00:53.160 talking about clapping today, applause, about what it all means 0:00:53.200 --> 0:00:55.920 in our universe and what it can tell us about 0:00:55.960 --> 0:00:59.760 the laws governing the ways that we operate in the world. Yeah. 0:01:00.240 --> 0:01:01.680 For instance, the big one, of course is when do 0:01:01.720 --> 0:01:04.160 you clap? When do you not clap? When is it appropriate? 0:01:04.440 --> 0:01:11.360 When is it unseemly? When do you not want the clap? Clapping? Clapping? Uh? Okay, 0:01:11.480 --> 0:01:14.679 And of course there's a rich tradition of clapping in 0:01:14.800 --> 0:01:17.440 childhood and happiness, right, because if you're happy and you 0:01:17.480 --> 0:01:19.240 know what, you will clap your hands. That's what the 0:01:19.240 --> 0:01:22.320 song says to do. And who we have to doubt it, Yeah, exactly. 0:01:22.640 --> 0:01:24.480 And clapping really is one of those things that it 0:01:24.800 --> 0:01:29.240 is just a rudimentary percussive instrument, right, You can use it, 0:01:29.280 --> 0:01:31.920 you can start your songs. It's like used a lot 0:01:31.959 --> 0:01:34.039 in folk music, right, Yeah, I mean it's the it's 0:01:34.040 --> 0:01:36.039 the instrument of our bodies. Yeah, it's right up there 0:01:36.040 --> 0:01:40.680 with like hand boning hamdbone hambone where you man exactly. 0:01:41.360 --> 0:01:43.200 I don't know really the rest of that song. I 0:01:43.240 --> 0:01:45.039 don't think anybody wants me to sing the rest of 0:01:45.040 --> 0:01:47.680 that song. But you can also use clapping as as 0:01:47.760 --> 0:01:52.240 even like a signal to turn electronic devices on and off. Right, 0:01:52.280 --> 0:01:56.120 Clap on, clap off. Right. So, and there's just satisfaction 0:01:56.160 --> 0:01:59.120 to a good clap. Have you ever noticed that? Yeah? Yeah, 0:01:59.440 --> 0:02:02.160 like a like a good just a rich clap where 0:02:02.200 --> 0:02:03.600 you really kind of cut your hands a bit and 0:02:03.640 --> 0:02:06.840 you get that solid sound. Yeah. Yeah, it's a good, 0:02:07.200 --> 0:02:10.360 meaty connection between your hands and it sort of comes 0:02:10.400 --> 0:02:14.280 to symbolize something really important to you, right, Like that 0:02:14.320 --> 0:02:19.160 performance was so enriching and beautiful that I must somehow 0:02:19.240 --> 0:02:23.440 express myself. My wife often gets onto me, for um, 0:02:23.919 --> 0:02:26.160 when we're at events where there's clapping, Like, generally what 0:02:26.200 --> 0:02:27.799 I'll do is I love to clap, and I will 0:02:27.840 --> 0:02:30.440 I will applaud an artist or or even you know, 0:02:30.480 --> 0:02:32.840 a movie if it's if it's really had an effect 0:02:32.880 --> 0:02:35.200 on me. But but my hands get a little tired 0:02:35.280 --> 0:02:37.600 doing it. I mean, it's not that it's like wearing 0:02:37.600 --> 0:02:39.560 me out and I'm just you know, you know, out 0:02:39.560 --> 0:02:41.880 of breath or anything. But like after you know, pin 0:02:41.960 --> 0:02:43.919 and claps, you know, you get kind of a stingy 0:02:43.960 --> 0:02:47.120 sensation because I'm really committing on my early claps. So 0:02:47.440 --> 0:02:51.720 if the audience continues to applaud, I'll often go to 0:02:51.760 --> 0:02:54.240 a silent clap where I look like I'm clapping, but 0:02:54.320 --> 0:02:57.040 I'm not really making any noise because at that point, 0:02:57.120 --> 0:03:00.360 you feel like it's obligatory clapping. Yeah, So I continue 0:03:00.360 --> 0:03:02.639 to keep up appearances, but I'm not really going to 0:03:02.720 --> 0:03:05.880 contribute to the volume of of applause. And uh, and 0:03:05.960 --> 0:03:08.880 my wife thinks that's kind of silly or something. All Right, 0:03:08.880 --> 0:03:11.200 We're gonna touch back on that in a moment um. 0:03:11.280 --> 0:03:13.440 I wanted to point out that Jay Fisher, he's a 0:03:13.560 --> 0:03:16.600 classics professor Yale University, he dates the custom to at 0:03:16.680 --> 0:03:19.320 least the third century BC. He said, you see it 0:03:19.360 --> 0:03:20.960 at the end of a lot of place by plaud 0:03:21.040 --> 0:03:23.839 Us and Terrence, where they have this word plaudit, which 0:03:23.919 --> 0:03:27.519 is an imperative meaning applause or clap, So we see 0:03:27.520 --> 0:03:30.480 it there. Um. We also know that it was popular 0:03:30.560 --> 0:03:34.480 in ancient room, where it joined finger clicks and waving 0:03:34.520 --> 0:03:38.240 handkerchiefs and expression of appreciation, so they would do clicks 0:03:38.280 --> 0:03:40.200 with their fingers. I thought that was just a be 0:03:40.360 --> 0:03:42.280 nick thing that I did not realize that that had 0:03:42.320 --> 0:03:46.480 its origins in ancient room. And uh Bruno h Rep 0:03:46.760 --> 0:03:49.920 has a paper all about clapping, the sound of two 0:03:49.960 --> 0:03:53.839 hands clapping and exploratory study, and he found I thought 0:03:53.880 --> 0:03:57.520 this was fascinating. There is no gender difference when it 0:03:57.600 --> 0:04:01.000 comes to ladies and gents clapping, like sound volume or 0:04:01.040 --> 0:04:04.800 how much they do it exactly both. So he wanted 0:04:04.840 --> 0:04:07.480 to explore this idea because he thought, well, hand size 0:04:07.560 --> 0:04:10.920 is a clear sexual dimorphism, right, so his hands are 0:04:11.000 --> 0:04:13.880 big and meaty, and growths in women's hands are slight 0:04:13.960 --> 0:04:18.039 and beautiful, right, and couldn't possibly produce sounds sure exactly 0:04:18.279 --> 0:04:21.080 or the daintiest stuff, right, But he found that there 0:04:21.200 --> 0:04:24.520 was no there was no different spoints. Whoever. I thought 0:04:24.560 --> 0:04:27.560 that was just kind of funny too to find out about. 0:04:27.600 --> 0:04:30.240 But anyway, if you ever want to know everything in 0:04:30.279 --> 0:04:33.000 the world about clapping, you should definitely check out reps 0:04:33.080 --> 0:04:35.800 paper the sound of two hands clapping. So we've all 0:04:35.800 --> 0:04:38.799 been in an environment obviously where applause is taking place. 0:04:39.200 --> 0:04:42.080 If you haven't, then then we have some questions about 0:04:42.120 --> 0:04:44.120 your life. But for the most part, everyone knows that 0:04:44.160 --> 0:04:46.040 those would generally happen. So it's like a couple of 0:04:46.120 --> 0:04:49.600 people start applauding, then the applause builds, and then a 0:04:49.680 --> 0:04:51.720 curious thing begins to happen. I mean, you don't think 0:04:51.720 --> 0:04:53.240 about it as being curious at the time, because it 0:04:53.279 --> 0:04:57.640 happens all the time, but a little synchronicity leaches its 0:04:57.680 --> 0:05:00.240 way into the applause. And we know that this is 0:05:00.279 --> 0:05:03.760 really important in social constructs, right, because we've talked about 0:05:03.880 --> 0:05:08.160 the social contract that we all unwittingly sign because we 0:05:08.240 --> 0:05:10.240 want to be cooperative, we want to be a community. 0:05:10.400 --> 0:05:11.800 We have to get along, we have to have. We 0:05:11.880 --> 0:05:16.240 have certain norms that we we generally want to to meet, Yeah, 0:05:16.600 --> 0:05:19.680 and clapping is just another way to communicate. In fact, 0:05:19.760 --> 0:05:22.000 in Samoa, which is an island in the South Pacific, 0:05:22.640 --> 0:05:25.320 rhythm dancing, singing, and music are really integral to that 0:05:25.480 --> 0:05:27.880 culture and so clapping is a is huge part of 0:05:27.920 --> 0:05:30.800 how they expressed themselves through these stories and they re 0:05:31.000 --> 0:05:34.240 enact these different stories by using these sound signals. And 0:05:34.360 --> 0:05:36.440 I just wanted to play a quick clip of that 0:05:37.279 --> 0:05:39.719 because I thought it was so cool to be able 0:05:39.800 --> 0:06:01.160 to hear this community all participating in this act. And 0:06:01.240 --> 0:06:03.160 of course you should really check out videos of this 0:06:03.240 --> 0:06:06.320 as well, because any of these ritual uh you know, 0:06:06.640 --> 0:06:10.160 Simonan performances are always a real treat to watch as well. 0:06:11.000 --> 0:06:12.600 So you look at something like this and then you 0:06:12.640 --> 0:06:15.920 begin to wonder, well, is this something that um is 0:06:15.960 --> 0:06:19.440 integral to humans? Are we born clappers or we made clappers? 0:06:20.080 --> 0:06:23.040 And a pediatric physical therapist and research at the University 0:06:23.080 --> 0:06:27.000 of Hartford, she says that we are We're made and 0:06:27.080 --> 0:06:29.320 we're not born. She said that I think it's a 0:06:29.480 --> 0:06:34.000 learned behavior. I've seen babies spontaneously from excitement clasp their 0:06:34.080 --> 0:06:37.600 hands together, but the motion of clapping is a learned behavior, 0:06:38.320 --> 0:06:42.159 so the left of their own devices and an unschooled 0:06:42.200 --> 0:06:46.000 infant might learn to clap, but generally speaking, you're you're 0:06:46.040 --> 0:06:48.320 taught to clap before you do. I mean, it's to me, 0:06:48.480 --> 0:06:50.640 it's kind of a hard question to answer because your 0:06:50.680 --> 0:06:54.000 motor skills of the baby aren't really up to party clapping. Right. Yeah, 0:06:54.080 --> 0:06:57.000 I was terrible at when I was young. My family 0:06:57.160 --> 0:07:00.279 continues to give me a hell over that, but really, yeah, 0:07:00.279 --> 0:07:01.800 I couldn't like make I would try to clap and 0:07:01.800 --> 0:07:05.120 I would go like this, you're crossing your your arms 0:07:05.440 --> 0:07:07.520 if you look it, see you right now, You're trying 0:07:07.520 --> 0:07:11.040 to clap and I'm missing. Okay, do it. Now, let 0:07:11.120 --> 0:07:14.800 me do the quick clapping of hands together. There we go. Okay, 0:07:15.280 --> 0:07:17.120 you're pretty good. Now, well now I'm all right, yeah, 0:07:17.160 --> 0:07:19.600 all right. So, um, what does all this have to 0:07:19.680 --> 0:07:23.320 do though? With social synchronicity. There's a twelve study from 0:07:23.400 --> 0:07:27.160 cognitive neuroscientists at the California Institute of Technology and researchers 0:07:27.200 --> 0:07:31.800 found that the body movement synchronization between two participants increases 0:07:32.120 --> 0:07:35.720 following a short session of cooperative training, and it suggests 0:07:35.760 --> 0:07:39.080 our ability to synchronized body movements is measurable, is a 0:07:39.160 --> 0:07:42.800 measurable indicator of social interaction. So in other words, we 0:07:42.920 --> 0:07:44.960 need this, we need this motion in order for all 0:07:45.000 --> 0:07:47.760 of this to say, hey, we're all on the same page. Yeah. 0:07:48.160 --> 0:07:49.680 I mean you think about any kind of like a 0:07:49.760 --> 0:07:53.680 physical activity such as you know, like like any time 0:07:53.720 --> 0:07:56.880 you're your your work or your your church or your 0:07:56.960 --> 0:07:58.360 you know, whatever kind of group goes out and does 0:07:58.400 --> 0:08:01.200 some sort of service act, like if you say you're 0:08:01.240 --> 0:08:03.040 digging a ditch, like you can take people that do 0:08:03.200 --> 0:08:06.000 not dig ditches, uh normally in their courses of the life. 0:08:06.040 --> 0:08:07.720 You can get them out there. And via this kind 0:08:07.720 --> 0:08:11.280 of synchronicity that we we have built in, we can 0:08:11.360 --> 0:08:14.480 generally avoid shoveling at each other in the face by accident, 0:08:14.840 --> 0:08:18.920 because you'll fall into the synchronicity of the chore. But 0:08:19.040 --> 0:08:21.040 you're right, you're right, so we and and just I'm 0:08:21.080 --> 0:08:24.360 thinking about rowing canoe to right. So if you you've 0:08:24.360 --> 0:08:27.000 got two people rowing, but you just generally fall into 0:08:27.080 --> 0:08:29.400 these rhythms. Yeah, now it made take an hour or two. 0:08:29.960 --> 0:08:32.120 And and you're and and if it's if it's a 0:08:32.400 --> 0:08:34.880 husband and wife in a canoe, your relationship might not 0:08:35.080 --> 0:08:37.599 last long enough to reach that point of synchronicity, but 0:08:37.800 --> 0:08:39.719 stick with it because you'll get there. You know, my 0:08:39.800 --> 0:08:41.599 husband and I used to can do a lot and 0:08:41.920 --> 0:08:44.839 when we lived in Roley, North Carolina, and um, I 0:08:44.920 --> 0:08:47.480 could always sort of tell what take the weather of 0:08:47.520 --> 0:08:50.920 our relationship on those Sundays when we were doing that, 0:08:51.000 --> 0:08:53.079 because you know, if you're not in synchronicity, if you're 0:08:53.120 --> 0:08:55.840 not sort of on the same page, then you start 0:08:55.920 --> 0:08:58.000 fobble and you're not really rowing very well, and they 0:08:58.040 --> 0:09:00.959 can just sort of rudder lists. But um, what I 0:09:01.000 --> 0:09:03.680 thought was interesting about this study is that the researcher 0:09:03.840 --> 0:09:08.000 Young Um Young said that the reason why they're studying 0:09:08.080 --> 0:09:10.520 this is because it could open new vistas to study 0:09:10.600 --> 0:09:16.040 the brain to brain interface that appears when cooperative relationships exist. 0:09:16.320 --> 0:09:20.000 So they're looking at this is possibly in an extrapolation 0:09:20.200 --> 0:09:23.240 of looking at how two brains can create a loose 0:09:23.360 --> 0:09:27.240 dynamic system. So of course, you know, my futurest mind goes, 0:09:27.840 --> 0:09:30.480 this is you know, a way to study this and 0:09:30.600 --> 0:09:33.079 somehow link up brains. Yeah, I mean, there are a 0:09:33.160 --> 0:09:35.800 number of really fascinating studies out there right now talking 0:09:35.840 --> 0:09:38.800 about the possible use of this uh linking two brains 0:09:38.840 --> 0:09:43.080 together form for a single task, such as piloting a spaceship. Yeah, 0:09:43.120 --> 0:09:45.400 and it's and it's fascinating to see something just as 0:09:45.440 --> 0:09:47.599 elementary as clapp in your hands is being able to 0:09:47.679 --> 0:09:50.599 study the ways in which our brains changed with this activity. 0:09:51.440 --> 0:09:55.520 So this is all sort of predicated, this clapping and 0:09:55.960 --> 0:10:00.280 this social interaction on this idea that has recent come 0:10:00.320 --> 0:10:04.800 out that not only are we all meme machines. We 0:10:04.920 --> 0:10:07.320 take our thoughts and we spread them, as evidenced by 0:10:07.360 --> 0:10:12.839 the Internet, but something like clapping is a microcosm of 0:10:12.960 --> 0:10:16.760 the meme and how it spreads. Okay, so if you 0:10:16.800 --> 0:10:18.640 look at classic about like applause in a in a 0:10:18.720 --> 0:10:22.439 given environment, say it show yeah. Yeah. In fact, it's 0:10:22.440 --> 0:10:25.640 looked at as as a sort of virus spreading out 0:10:25.760 --> 0:10:28.839 throughout the audience. There's a paper published recently called the 0:10:28.920 --> 0:10:31.439 Dynamics of Audience Applause and it's in the Journal of 0:10:31.600 --> 0:10:35.440 Royal Society Interface, and the lead author, Dr Richard Mann 0:10:35.679 --> 0:10:38.920 from the University of Upsala said, you can get quite 0:10:38.960 --> 0:10:41.240 different lengths of applause even if you have the same 0:10:41.360 --> 0:10:45.119 quality of performance. This is purely coming from the dynamics 0:10:45.200 --> 0:10:47.400 of the people in the crowd. So in other words, 0:10:48.040 --> 0:10:50.640 it's not like how great the performance was, it's how 0:10:50.960 --> 0:10:54.240 the meme of the applause is spreading throughout that audience. 0:10:54.440 --> 0:10:57.559 I imagine performance artists that are listening to this program, 0:10:57.960 --> 0:11:00.000 be they a musician or a wrestler or what happen 0:11:00.080 --> 0:11:03.320 you UM, or an actor, they can probably tell you, oh, well, 0:11:03.360 --> 0:11:05.400 that's obviously the case because because if you go out 0:11:05.440 --> 0:11:08.720 there and let's say you're your solo is just as 0:11:08.760 --> 0:11:11.800 excellent on this night as it was the night before. 0:11:12.120 --> 0:11:14.040 But it's a different crowd, it's a different town, and 0:11:14.240 --> 0:11:16.800 sometimes the crowd is just not going to have that dynamic. 0:11:17.280 --> 0:11:19.120 They're not gonna eat it up and uh and there's 0:11:19.280 --> 0:11:21.480 maybe a lot more to that than just you know, 0:11:21.640 --> 0:11:23.680 it being a sleepy small town versus a big city. 0:11:24.040 --> 0:11:26.280 This is why you have to plant clappers in the audience. 0:11:27.160 --> 0:11:30.120 If you if you wanted to have a big, resounding, 0:11:30.760 --> 0:11:34.439 robust applause, you know, five minute plus, you would have 0:11:34.520 --> 0:11:37.959 to have people who would be sporadically spread out UM. 0:11:38.360 --> 0:11:41.959 And the reason is because the researchers found that that 0:11:42.120 --> 0:11:48.480 that behavior, that tapering off of volume happens because people 0:11:48.559 --> 0:11:51.600 begin to not participate and then that non pretipation sort 0:11:51.600 --> 0:11:54.960 of give license um or that that lack of volume 0:11:55.000 --> 0:11:57.120 to those other people that say, okay, so I'm much 0:11:57.559 --> 0:11:59.640 anymore just sort of like how you said, like after 0:11:59.760 --> 0:12:02.680 ten claps, you're kind of like kind of done here. Yeah. Yeah, 0:12:03.160 --> 0:12:05.079 And it was interesting too. Then in this study that 0:12:05.160 --> 0:12:06.959 they point out that it doesn't take that many people 0:12:07.320 --> 0:12:11.880 starting the applause or stopping it to to affect the 0:12:12.240 --> 0:12:15.640 overall volume. Yeah, something a couple of people, right, So 0:12:16.440 --> 0:12:18.319 you have a couple of people start it. Let's say 0:12:18.320 --> 0:12:21.880 you have people engage in it, two people drop off, 0:12:22.120 --> 0:12:25.040 and then boom, your applause begins to to go on 0:12:25.120 --> 0:12:28.040 the downward curve fare. It can be uh like the 0:12:28.200 --> 0:12:31.120 one of the more like to two examples of this 0:12:31.200 --> 0:12:32.719 come to mind, like if if you ever been to 0:12:32.840 --> 0:12:35.599 something where you did not like the performance, say like 0:12:36.520 --> 0:12:38.240 it seems like I've encountered this before. If it's you're 0:12:38.240 --> 0:12:41.240 going to something where they're various performers, uh and and 0:12:41.360 --> 0:12:43.440 maybe you're not really there to see if it see 0:12:43.640 --> 0:12:47.000 the one that you just perform um and uh, and 0:12:47.280 --> 0:12:49.280 you're there's something in me that I'll be stubborn. I'll 0:12:49.280 --> 0:12:50.839 be like, well, I'm not going to applot that that 0:12:51.000 --> 0:12:53.719 was horrible, but then everyone else is applotting, and it's 0:12:54.040 --> 0:12:57.000 and it takes a real to it's a real test 0:12:57.040 --> 0:12:59.480 of will to not fall in and clap like I 0:12:59.559 --> 0:13:01.839 generally up at least doing my silent clap, just so 0:13:01.880 --> 0:13:03.960 I don't look like a jerk, right, And you feel 0:13:04.000 --> 0:13:05.520 kind of like a jerk on the inside, right because 0:13:05.559 --> 0:13:07.559 it's the silent or you feel like I will not 0:13:07.679 --> 0:13:10.000 give you that volume. I'll look like it, but I'm 0:13:10.040 --> 0:13:12.959 not giving it to you. And another thing that comes 0:13:13.000 --> 0:13:15.120 to mind is, um, if you've ever been to a 0:13:15.200 --> 0:13:18.959 play and you don't realize that it's family night, so 0:13:19.080 --> 0:13:23.040 it's the family members and friends of the performing I 0:13:23.240 --> 0:13:26.040 went to, uh, we went to a play years ago 0:13:26.160 --> 0:13:30.080 and it was the same case. The performance itself was um, 0:13:30.240 --> 0:13:32.760 you know, heartfelt that the performers were really into it, 0:13:32.920 --> 0:13:35.319 they were really believed in their product, but it was 0:13:35.520 --> 0:13:39.719 very rough around the edges and and ultimately just kind 0:13:39.760 --> 0:13:43.200 of weird and boring. The music was great, but at 0:13:43.240 --> 0:13:46.199 the end of it was there was a standing ovation 0:13:46.360 --> 0:13:49.440 from everyone around us, and and I kind of felt 0:13:49.440 --> 0:13:51.040 like I was going insane for a second because I 0:13:51.160 --> 0:13:53.280 was like, why is everyone loving this so much? Did 0:13:53.320 --> 0:13:55.920 we see the same play? Uh? You know? That? Is it? 0:13:56.320 --> 0:13:59.079 Is there some sort of weird generational divide here? And 0:13:59.320 --> 0:14:00.959 I begin to one, is this what it feels like 0:14:01.200 --> 0:14:03.959 to have like some sort of dementia where the world 0:14:04.120 --> 0:14:06.800 is responding in a certain way to stimuli and you 0:14:07.080 --> 0:14:09.720 are not having the same response. But it's it turns 0:14:09.720 --> 0:14:11.480 out it's just all of those people given the standing. 0:14:11.480 --> 0:14:13.559 Oh they were there because their friends or and or 0:14:13.640 --> 0:14:16.719 family were involved in the production. I love that. I 0:14:16.840 --> 0:14:19.800 love that You're like this is this is a possible 0:14:20.480 --> 0:14:25.040 alternate reality that you're experiencing and could be like dementia 0:14:25.320 --> 0:14:27.200 because again, again it comes down to the pressure, the 0:14:27.240 --> 0:14:30.640 social pressure of the applause, where if the applause is 0:14:30.720 --> 0:14:32.400 that strong for something, it's like, if there's something wrong 0:14:32.440 --> 0:14:34.840 with me that they're not fitting in with this? Why 0:14:34.840 --> 0:14:37.880 am I not having the same response? Another awkward kind 0:14:37.920 --> 0:14:42.840 of applause moment, I think is office applause because you're 0:14:42.840 --> 0:14:45.480 in a meeting someone does something great. Of course you 0:14:45.520 --> 0:14:47.280 want to acknowledge it, but then you feel like you 0:14:47.400 --> 0:14:50.400 can't not acknowledgement that you know, could you could? You? 0:14:50.440 --> 0:14:52.120 I guess you could not just sit there and fold 0:14:52.160 --> 0:14:54.080 your arms. We don't do that here though. We're pretty 0:14:54.160 --> 0:14:56.600 unsupported bunch for the most part. Yeah, pretty much. Yeah, 0:14:56.760 --> 0:14:58.480 every once a while, like once every two years, so 0:14:58.600 --> 0:15:02.160 there's a cloppicking going on. Let's take a quick break 0:15:02.320 --> 0:15:05.480 and when we get back we will talk about how 0:15:05.600 --> 0:15:16.840 clapping in neurons are related. Wow, that was an inspired 0:15:17.080 --> 0:15:20.040 performance there. That that that was pretty awesome. Oh yeah, 0:15:20.080 --> 0:15:22.320 we had that person come in to do that. Yeah, ye, 0:15:24.160 --> 0:15:29.400 share was great. Ah. Well, um, if you're just joining us, uh. 0:15:29.520 --> 0:15:31.840 And I'm not sure how you're doing that since someone 0:15:31.920 --> 0:15:33.560 listened to the first half of this podcast for you, 0:15:33.640 --> 0:15:36.200 but we are talking about applause, we're talking about clapping, 0:15:36.520 --> 0:15:38.920 and we're talking about all the stuff that you really 0:15:38.920 --> 0:15:42.480 going going on under the surface, both the psychologically, uh, 0:15:42.600 --> 0:15:46.960 socially and uh and indeed from a neuroscientific standpoint. Yeah, 0:15:47.040 --> 0:15:49.840 And I wanted to mention that that um, that study 0:15:49.960 --> 0:15:52.120 about clapping. It was from a team of mathematicians and 0:15:52.200 --> 0:15:55.000 biologists from Sweden and Germany, and one of the things 0:15:55.080 --> 0:15:58.200 they graphed were the times at which people started stop clapping, 0:15:58.320 --> 0:16:00.680 and they found that that graph had a sick mortal 0:16:00.800 --> 0:16:03.840 curve like graphs of people getting infected and then recovering 0:16:03.880 --> 0:16:06.840 from a disease. So I thought that was interesting. Again, 0:16:06.920 --> 0:16:09.560 this idea that it's a social contagion. Wow, that it 0:16:10.200 --> 0:16:12.560 virally affects you, then you're you're in the throes of 0:16:12.640 --> 0:16:14.320 it for a little bit, and then gradually you recover. 0:16:14.400 --> 0:16:16.360 It's like, all right, I'm not clapping anymore. I think 0:16:16.360 --> 0:16:19.600 I'm fine. I'm fine. Yeah, I've recovered from this. Yeah. Um. 0:16:19.800 --> 0:16:23.920 I also thought it was interesting that your neurons they 0:16:23.960 --> 0:16:28.400 actually act like a clapping audience. And it turns out 0:16:28.480 --> 0:16:32.040 that your brain that's ability to adapt to circumstances in 0:16:32.120 --> 0:16:35.640 this rapid fire progression of neurons. Um it is all 0:16:35.720 --> 0:16:38.320 related to that. Because let's say you detect an object, 0:16:38.440 --> 0:16:41.480 let's say like a baseball hurtling towards your head um 0:16:41.960 --> 0:16:44.320 you have to size up the dimensions of it and 0:16:44.400 --> 0:16:46.720 its relationship to your body, and then in a split second, 0:16:46.760 --> 0:16:50.120 you're sort of switching between all this sensorial data and 0:16:50.200 --> 0:16:51.960 you're making a decision whether or not to move your 0:16:52.000 --> 0:16:55.160 head away from the ball or catch it. And there 0:16:55.360 --> 0:16:58.680 is an associate professor in the Wallace h Culture Department 0:16:58.760 --> 0:17:01.560 of Biomedical Engineering his name is Garrett Stanley. He says, 0:17:01.600 --> 0:17:04.080 there's a switching of the circuit to a different function. 0:17:04.160 --> 0:17:07.520 The same neurons do two things and switch quickly in 0:17:07.560 --> 0:17:10.320 a matter of seconds or milliseconds. Though a change in 0:17:10.359 --> 0:17:14.359 the synchronization across neurons occurs. And he says, if you 0:17:14.560 --> 0:17:17.440 think of the neurons firing like members of an audience 0:17:17.960 --> 0:17:20.600 with their clapping hands, then the sound up clapping becomes 0:17:20.720 --> 0:17:23.000 louder when they all clapped together. So it kind of 0:17:23.080 --> 0:17:25.639 makes sense that you have that immediacy like move your 0:17:25.680 --> 0:17:28.000 head or catch that ball. It's sort of like that 0:17:28.200 --> 0:17:31.800 the crescendo of the clapping of the neurons saying come on, 0:17:32.240 --> 0:17:35.760 give attention to this. Now. Another cool study that that 0:17:35.840 --> 0:17:40.120 we found one from a researcher at Ben Garon University 0:17:40.320 --> 0:17:43.680 of the Negev and I conducted the first study of 0:17:43.760 --> 0:17:47.320 hand clapping songs and it revealed a distinct link between 0:17:47.560 --> 0:17:49.960 these activities and the development of important skills and children, 0:17:50.000 --> 0:17:53.680 any young adults, including university students, which was really fascinating 0:17:53.720 --> 0:17:57.560 because they're they're studying, uh, obviously their social ramifications for 0:17:57.640 --> 0:18:00.240 clapping games. You get kids clapping together. We've talked about 0:18:00.240 --> 0:18:02.600 this too. With music. You know, people come together in 0:18:02.800 --> 0:18:07.600 song and you're essentially firing up your neurons in in unison, 0:18:07.640 --> 0:18:11.119 you're sharing in this activity, uh, this viral activity, if 0:18:11.160 --> 0:18:14.320 you will, and uh, and it strengthens the bonds between you. 0:18:14.640 --> 0:18:18.159 So obviously if you're playing uh patty Cake, patty Cake 0:18:18.200 --> 0:18:20.439 Baker's Man, Yeah, you know that kind of thing, then 0:18:20.480 --> 0:18:22.480 it's there's a lot of social activity. You're you're clapp 0:18:22.520 --> 0:18:25.640 you're moving to in unison, there's actual physical touch involved. 0:18:25.960 --> 0:18:28.560 It's uh. So it's a no brainer in that regard 0:18:28.600 --> 0:18:30.840 that it would help socially, but as it turns out, 0:18:30.880 --> 0:18:34.400 there's also there's also an impact on learning as well. Yeah. 0:18:35.040 --> 0:18:36.679 One of the reasons why they wanted to look at 0:18:36.720 --> 0:18:39.840 this with kids elementary ages that they found that they 0:18:39.920 --> 0:18:43.480 really like to engage in clapping activities and clapping songs 0:18:43.520 --> 0:18:45.920 at age six, but then they drop off at age ten. 0:18:46.800 --> 0:18:49.359 And so what they figured out is that those kids 0:18:49.440 --> 0:18:54.680 when they engage them and say, like boards sanctioned educational music, 0:18:54.880 --> 0:18:58.679 like one group just in song and another group um 0:18:59.040 --> 0:19:03.240 with hand clappings songs, they found that those kids, over 0:19:03.320 --> 0:19:06.840 like a ten week period, they were able to catch 0:19:06.960 --> 0:19:10.719 up in their cognitive abilities those clapping kids as opposed 0:19:10.720 --> 0:19:12.800 to the non clapping kids. So it points to this 0:19:13.040 --> 0:19:18.760 idea that kids may gravitate to it naturally because it's 0:19:18.800 --> 0:19:22.480 integral to motor and cognitive training at those ages. And 0:19:22.600 --> 0:19:25.000 then they also found that it's good for adults as well. 0:19:25.040 --> 0:19:27.240 And part of this they point out as of course nostalgia. 0:19:27.240 --> 0:19:29.160 If you if you played these games when you're younger, 0:19:29.240 --> 0:19:33.000 then there's a warming effect to play them now. But 0:19:33.520 --> 0:19:35.960 but in this questionnaires that they sent out, they found 0:19:36.040 --> 0:19:39.360 that the adult students who took part in clapping games, 0:19:39.400 --> 0:19:43.119 they became more focused and less tense. Um, So the 0:19:43.160 --> 0:19:46.040 next time you're feeling of its stressed, Uh, maybe you 0:19:46.119 --> 0:19:47.600 just need to have some patty Cake in your life. 0:19:47.640 --> 0:19:50.240 Mandatory patty cake time. So you're sitting at your desk, 0:19:50.400 --> 0:19:53.440 you're working on something, you're under deadline, you're totally stressed out, 0:19:53.920 --> 0:19:56.119 Start clapping, yeah, or hand boning or some sort of 0:19:56.280 --> 0:20:00.480 you know, just hitting the thighs or something that might work. Um. 0:20:01.080 --> 0:20:03.560 I was trying to think of a bunch of clapping 0:20:03.680 --> 0:20:05.680 songs when I read this, and the only ones that 0:20:05.720 --> 0:20:09.240 came to mind were patty Cake, some church songs, but 0:20:09.359 --> 0:20:11.119 I can't remember any of them, but I know there 0:20:11.119 --> 0:20:12.919 are church songs that have clapping in them, and then 0:20:12.960 --> 0:20:14.600 of course we will rock you, but that's more of 0:20:16.119 --> 0:20:18.960 But certainly you get a whole you know, auditorium doing 0:20:19.040 --> 0:20:21.760 that at once. Then it's pretty spectacular. I was going 0:20:21.840 --> 0:20:24.639 to say, because you were synchronizing your entire body to this, 0:20:24.840 --> 0:20:27.800 your brain and all of your limbs, and feeling like 0:20:27.960 --> 0:20:31.160 you are now invested in something completely outside of yourself. 0:20:32.359 --> 0:20:35.679 But she kind of gives you that big, warm, fuzzy 0:20:35.760 --> 0:20:42.280 feeling towards humanity, or at least towards queen exactly exactly, well, 0:20:42.359 --> 0:20:45.480 should we slow clap ourselves out of this episode? I guess. 0:20:45.520 --> 0:20:47.280 So you have the slow clap we didn't really get into, 0:20:47.400 --> 0:20:56.920 but that, of course is the sarcastic clap. And the 0:20:57.280 --> 0:20:59.040 thing about that the slow clap, though, of course, is 0:20:59.080 --> 0:21:01.320 that sometimes you see the see a scene in a 0:21:01.400 --> 0:21:03.600 movie where the slow clap is like that, the first 0:21:03.640 --> 0:21:06.000 individual to clap is that person who stands up and 0:21:06.119 --> 0:21:10.000 just like the really heartfelt clapping slow that builds to 0:21:10.080 --> 0:21:13.280