WEBVTT - Could Neanderthals Laugh?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to brain Stuff from how stuff works. Hey, brain Stuff,

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<v Speaker 1>Lauren Vogelbaum Here for millennia, Humans and Neanderthals or Neanderthals

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<v Speaker 1>if you prefer coexisted in Europe and Eurasia. You've probably

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<v Speaker 1>heard about it because apparently they all had sex, and

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<v Speaker 1>now you might have around two percent Neanderthal DNA in

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<v Speaker 1>your genome. It's a whole thing. So we know there

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<v Speaker 1>might have been some Neanderthal slash modern human romance. But

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<v Speaker 1>did they have any laughs together? Well, that mostly depends

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<v Speaker 1>on whether Neanderthals could laugh. It's a tricky question, though,

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<v Speaker 1>because what would Neanderthals have laughed at. We modern humans

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<v Speaker 1>laugh at all sorts of things. Depending on who you are.

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<v Speaker 1>It's equally possible to defall at kitten's playing as it

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<v Speaker 1>is to giggle over a pound about chemical engineering, if

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<v Speaker 1>that's what you're into. We know even less about Neanderthal

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<v Speaker 1>theory of mind than we do about our own, but

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<v Speaker 1>there's evidence that the idea that they were intellectually inferior

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<v Speaker 1>to modern humans is bogus. And though we don't rightly

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<v Speaker 1>know what would have tickled them, A research on the

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<v Speaker 1>evolution of laughter supports the idea that Neanderthals were most

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<v Speaker 1>likely air to a glorious legacy of chuckles. That's because

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<v Speaker 1>other great apes laugh. In fact, laughter in our phylogenetic

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<v Speaker 1>corner of the world is estimated to have evolved between

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<v Speaker 1>ten and sixteen million years ago. It most likely evolved

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<v Speaker 1>from the labored breathing that happens when you're playing or

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<v Speaker 1>being tickled. Spontaneous laughter is something we all do within

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<v Speaker 1>the first couple months of life, even in babies born

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<v Speaker 1>deaf or blind. The main goal of laughter seems to

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<v Speaker 1>be to create and maintain social bonds. We know Neanderthals

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<v Speaker 1>lived in small family groups, so although they might not

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<v Speaker 1>have needed to have the social smarts to yuck it

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<v Speaker 1>up at a comedy club, given their lifestyle, laughter probably

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<v Speaker 1>would have been beneficial to them, just as it is

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<v Speaker 1>to us or ape chimpanzee. But a lot goes into laughter,

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<v Speaker 1>and the question of whether or not Neanderthals could laugh

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<v Speaker 1>has two parts, the first having to do with the

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<v Speaker 1>ability of the Neanderthal voice to produce the sound, and

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<v Speaker 1>second with whether or not they have the cognitive ability

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<v Speaker 1>to find things funny. According to Dr Philip Lieberman, Professor

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<v Speaker 1>Emeritus in the Department of Cognitive, Linguistic and Psychological Sciences

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<v Speaker 1>at Brown College. Neanderthals definitely had all the vocal equipment

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<v Speaker 1>required to laugh. Neanderthals had a vocal setup very similar

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<v Speaker 1>to humans, a larynx or voice box, supported by a

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<v Speaker 1>delicate horseshoe shaped bone called the hyoid. Lieberman explained, the

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<v Speaker 1>larynx produces acoustic energy that causes the vocal chords of

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<v Speaker 1>the larynx to open and clothes and the super laryngeal

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<v Speaker 1>vocal tract. The space between the lips and the larynx

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<v Speaker 1>changes shape with movement in the lips, tongue, and jaw

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<v Speaker 1>to make a kind of malleable organ pipe that helps

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<v Speaker 1>us make vowel and constant sounds. We share all this

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<v Speaker 1>vocal equipment with Neanderthal's, so it stands to reason that

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<v Speaker 1>their laugh would be similar to our own. The only

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<v Speaker 1>difference of opinion among researchers here centers around whether the

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<v Speaker 1>Neanderthal speaking voice was lower or higher than that of

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<v Speaker 1>a modern human. So with that settled, the next big

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<v Speaker 1>question is whether Neanderthals had the ability to find things

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<v Speaker 1>funny enough to laugh at them. According to Lieberman and

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<v Speaker 1>some recent research, it's very likely, he said. Epo Genetic

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<v Speaker 1>evidence now shows that Neanderthal brains could execute complex motor acts.

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<v Speaker 1>This means that Neanderthals could talk and had language. As

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<v Speaker 1>long as their brains could control the complex gestures that

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<v Speaker 1>human speech entails, they definitely could have laughed. Today's episode

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<v Speaker 1>was written by Jesselyn Shields and produced by Tyler Klang.

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<v Speaker 1>For more on this and lots of other topics that

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<v Speaker 1>will tiple you, visit our home planet, how Stuff Works

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