Women take significantly longer than men to decide whether they find something funny, though that doesn’t seem to spoil their enjoyment of the joke. Indeed, women show a greater response in the limbic system than men, suggesting they feel a greater sense of reward.
Cool article on the science of humor.
While this was the most universally interesting quote in the piece, I liked the notion that humor stimulates the anterior cingulate cortex and the frontoinsular cortex, which only humans and apes have. It goes onto talk about how much of our humor is based on “theory of mind”, missing in many animals, and secondary “theory of mind” which is unique to humans.
I guess this explains why you rarely see pets doing stand-up.
