Here are some most interesting questions on how and why
the people do some things like yawning, laughing and giggles. Many of this
people had questions on human nature and behaviour so we are also
providing the answers for these question. if any other question comment at below we provide you the answers.
Q: You refer to your research as “small
science.” What does that mean?
A: We’re all familiar with “big science,” like the Mars
Rover or the Large Hadron Collider. These are huge collaborative projects that
cost billions of dollars and require new technologies. Small science is
different. Anyone can do it with minimal resources, not cutting-edge
technologies. There are amazing things all around us. You just need to know
where to look and how to see. Some of the topics I pursue in my book, such as
laughing and hiccupping and so on, have been a source of concern from Plato to
the present.
Q:
What about tearing, or crying, when we see someone else cry?
A: Other animals produce tears, but we are the only ones
that produce emotional tears. It’s uniquely human, and synchronizes our
behavior with that of another person. Plus, only humans have “whites of the eyes,” the sclera. If you’re
sad and you tear up, the eyes also become red. So by looking at the eyes of a
human you get two sources of information (about emotion) that are not available
to other animals. But the instinctive behaviors chosen (for the book) are not
all contagious.
Q:
You devoted an entire chapter to yawning. It’s not that it bored me, but when I
read it I did start to yawn.
A: You’re going to start yawning if you’re just thinking
about yawning. We yawn when we see other people yawn or when we read about it.
Actually, anything that has to do with yawning will make us yawn.
Q:
Why does that interest you?
A: It’s extraordinary. It‘s a reminder that we humans,
who find ourselves to be conscious and rational, are also beasts of the herd.
You don’t think about it (yawning), you just do it. But we also laugh when we
hear other people laugh. We scratch if we see other people scratch. These are
ancient, instinctive pre-wired actions.
Q:
Such as what?
A: Sneezing isn’t contagious. And neither is farting or
belching, unless you are a boy.
Q:
That, of course, begs the question: Why study farting?
A: We have another perspective, which is why do we talk
through our mouth instead of our butts. The starting point is that human speech
is an evolutionary accident whereby a valve that’s used to keep food and drink
out of the vocal chords was set into vibration. Basically, when we exhale we
are setting up vibrations in the vocal folds. So this valve that’s designed to
keep foods out of the airways was put to use for speech. But passing air
through the rectum sets up vibrations in the membranes and valves of the anus.
That actually could have been another contender in the vocal sweepstakes, but
it was more limited. We evolved to speak through our mouth. The vocal airway
was more flexible than Option B, the unmentionable one. But I think considering
other options is a useful tool in understanding evolutionary processes.
Q:
Most of us view tickling either as an annoyance or a lot of fun, depending on
who is doing the tickling. But you are looking at tickling from a broader
perspective, why?
A: The observation that you can’t tickle yourself, except
maybe mildly, shows that a tickle requires another person. It’s not a knee-jerk
reflex. By defining the stimulus for tickle, we understand not only what
constitutes personhood, but also the idea of other.
Q:
So what are the implications?
A: It seems trivial, but it winds up being an important
issue. If we understand the neuromechanism, we could program robots to be
ticklish.
Q:
Ticklish robots?
A: On several levels that would be an important
development. Having a robot that’s programmed with a sense of ticklishness
would mean we would have a robot that isn’t constantly startling itself. It
would understand (the difference) between it bumping into something and
something bumping into it. In other words, it would have a sense of self.
Q:
Why are any of these behaviors important in terms of a scientific agenda?
A: "Curious Behavior" describes a research
agenda that’s not a finished product, including ticklish robots. We talk about
the social breakthrough of emotional tearing and humans. But what is the
neurological transformation that allows us to tear and other animals not? We
can learn about pathologies of behaviors, too. Do individuals that don’t
(exhibit) contagious laughing or contagious yawning, lack empathy? Do they show
symptoms of autism or schizophrenia? So by describing these behaviors, we (may
also) develop diagnostic tools that allow us to discover previous unanticipated
pathologies.
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