[eli5] Why do babies laugh? Are they capable of finding things funny at such an early stage?

Question

[eli5] Why do babies laugh? Are they capable of finding things funny at such an early stage?

In: Other

Answer 1

I heard a theory that laughter comes from a form of crying: the first laughs you can get from a baby are often peekaboo and other surprise games. Surprise and shock early on always elicit crying, but after a few months of development, when there’s a surprise that turns out to be OK, that crying reflex morphs into laughter: the shock that is immediately relieved with a good outcome changes the nature of the crying.