laughter
n. vocal expression of amusement, enjoyment, or derision, characterized by inspiratory and expiratory movements occurring in rapid succession. Laughter is pleasurable because it serves to release tension built up when people listen to an amusing story or watch an amusing event (see release theory of humor). Laughter may also result when states of threat occur in a safe context (see arousal jag) or from an abrupt resolution of a cognitive incongruity. In psychoanalytic theory, laughter may be viewed as a defense against crying or embarrassment. Unrestrained or paroxysmal laughing spells have been found to precipitate cataplectic attacks, to be a common manifestation in manias, and to be an occasional symptom of psychomotor seizures among children. Spasmodic laughter, or gelasmus, is also found in schizophrenia, hysteria, and organic (especially bulbar and pseudobulbar) diseases of the brain, as well as in
choreomania. See also humor. —laugh
vb.