Laughter is in the air: involvement of key nodes of the emotional motor system in the anticipation of tickling.

ABSTRACT: In analogy to the appreciation of humor, that of tickling is based upon the re-interpretation of an anticipated emotional situation. Hence, the anticipation of tickling contributes to the final outburst of ticklish laughter. To localize the neuronal substrates of this process, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was conducted on 31 healthy volunteers. The state of anticipation was simulated by generating an uncertainty respecting the onset of manual foot tickling. Anticipation was characterized by an augmented fMRI signal in the anterior insula, the hypothalamus, the nucleus accumbens and the ventral tegmental area, as well as by an attenuated one in the internal globus pallidus. Furthermore, anticipatory activity in the anterior insula correlated positively with the degree of lau

SUBMITTER: Wattendorf E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6847157 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature