Abstract

Laughter has been studied by both philosophers and neuroscientists, yet the possible bridges between these two fronts of investigation is little explored. Bergson theorized about laughter and argued about its central social role. Human laughter, for Bergson, needs a social echo and brings malleability to social rigidity. We laugh at what is mechanical where there should be flexibility, for instance. Critchley, a contemporary philosopher, agrees with Bergson and adds that humor can also change our views on social structures and situations. Based on these philosophical theories on humor and recent methodological advances in functional connectivity dynamics in neuroimaging, we advance an hypothesis about the relations between laughter, cognitive flexibility and brain metastability. Laughter can be interpreted as a social behavior that reframes the interaction context and modulates individuals brain dynamics instantiating cognitive flexibility. Finally, in a parallel to interdisciplinary investigation of curiosity, we argue that laughter is not only a subject but a tool for advancing joint endeavors in neuroscience and philosophy.