51¹ú²úÊÓƵ

Researchers have proven what anyone prone to nervous titters already knows: laughter is not always a sign of happiness. Neurologists have found that laughter can convey a range of emotions, each processed in different parts of the brain. Working with colleagues from Germany's 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ of Tuebingen, the Newcastle 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ scientists found that volunteers could recognise the difference between positive and negative laughter associated with, for example, tickling and taunting simply by listening to it, with pathways in the brain decoding the different types.