How do certain neurological diseases cause humans to laugh uncontrollably?
In: Biology
From the most fundamental level of individual neurons up to whole structures, every part of our brain can be divided into parts that say “do it” and parts that say “don’t do it.” More specifically, there are neurons that can turn on other neurons and neurons that can turn off other neurons, and our brain is built around the fact that certain nerves can force each other to ignore their usual inputs in favor of one or the other.
In the case of laughing uncontrollably, there’s a section of nerves that exist only to cause laughter. There’s also a part that inhibits laughter. Normally, your emotions balance between these two contradicting systems, giving you the spectrum of “tiny giggle” to “rolling on the floor laughing.” But if you accidentally damage the part of your brain that stops you from laughing….
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