Newcastle University - Laugh? I nearly cried

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 University of Tuebingen, the Newcastle University 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.