Panksepp Jaak, Burgdorf Jeff
Department of Psychology, J.P. Scott Center for Neuroscience, Mind and Behavior, Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, OH 43403, USA.
Physiol Behav. 2003 Aug;79(3):533-47. doi: 10.1016/s0031-9384(03)00159-8.
Paul MacLean's concept of epistemics-the neuroscientific study of subjective experience-requires animal brain research that can be related to predictions concerning the internal experiences of humans. Especially robust relationships come from studies of the emotional/affective processes that arise from subcortical brain systems shared by all mammals. Recent affective neuroscience research has yielded the discovery of play- and tickle-induced ultrasonic vocalization patterns ( approximately 50-kHz chirps) in rats may have more than a passing resemblance to primitive human laughter. In this paper, we summarize a dozen reasons for the working hypothesis that such rat vocalizations reflect a type of positive affect that may have evolutionary relations to the joyfulness of human childhood laughter commonly accompanying social play. The neurobiological nature of human laughter is discussed, and the relevance of such ludic processes for understanding clinical disorders such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorders (ADHD), addictive urges and mood imbalances are discussed.
保罗·麦克林的认知学概念——对主观体验的神经科学研究——需要能够与关于人类内心体验的预测相关联的动物大脑研究。特别有力的关联来自对所有哺乳动物共有的皮层下脑系统产生的情绪/情感过程的研究。最近的情感神经科学研究发现，大鼠玩耍和被挠痒时发出的超声波发声模式（约50千赫兹的啁啾声）可能与原始人类的笑声有不止一点相似之处。在本文中，我们总结了十几个理由来支持这样一个工作假设：这种大鼠发声反映了一种积极情感，它可能与人类童年时期社交玩耍时通常伴随的欢快笑声具有进化关系。我们讨论了人类笑声的神经生物学本质，以及这种嬉戏过程对于理解诸如注意力缺陷多动障碍（ADHD）、成瘾冲动和情绪失衡等临床病症的相关性。
