ScienceDaily (June 29, 2008) — A new publication answers centuries' old questions regarding the mechanism and function of humour, identifying the reason humour is common to all human societies, its fundamental role in the evolution of homo sapiens and its continuing importance in the cognitive development of infants.
Alastair Clarke explains: "The theory is an evolutionary and cognitive explanation of how and why any individual finds anything funny. Effectively it explains that humour occurs when the brain recognizes a pattern that surprises it, and that recognition of this sort is rewarded with the experience of the humorous response, an element of which is broadcast as laughter.
"By removing stipulations of content we have been forced to study the structures underlying any instance of humour, and it has become clear that it is not the content of the stimulus but the patterns underlying it that provide the potential for sources of humour. For patterns to exist it is necessary to have some form of content, but once that content exists, it is the level of the pattern at which humour operates and for which it delivers its rewards."
Previous theories have only ever applied to a small proportion of all instances of humour, many of them stipulating necessary content or social conditions either in the humour itself or around the individual experiencing it. But this doesn't explain why an individual can laugh at something when no one else around them does, nor why two people can laugh at the same stimulus for different reasons.
The theory further identifies the importance of pattern recognition in human evolution as Clarke explains: "An ability to recognize patterns instantly and unconsciously has proved a fundamental weapon in the cognitive arsenal of human beings. The humorous reward has encouraged the development of such faculties, leading to the unique perceptual and intellectual abilities of our species."
Clarke's new theory of humour could also provide the basis for an increased understanding of human cognitive functions: "The development of pattern recognition as displayed in humour could also form the basis of humankind's instinctive linguistic ability. Syntax and grammar function in fundamental patterns for which a child has an innate facility. All that differs from one individual to the next is the content of those patterns in terms of vocabulary."
Pattern Recognition Theory also identifies a correlation between the development of humour and the development of cognitive ability in infants. "Amusing childish games such as peek-a-boo, clap hands and tower block demolition all exhibit the precise mechanism of humour as it appears in any adult form, but whether these instances of infantile humour actively contribute to the cognitive development of the child or are simply a record of the evolution of the species played out in the individual, is as yet unclear.
"Peek-a-boo can elicit a humorous response in infants as young as four months, and is, effectively, a simple process of surprise repetition, forming a clear, basic pattern. As the infant develops, the patterns in childish humour become more complex and compounded and attain spatial as well as temporal elements until, finally, the child begins to grapple with the patterns involved in linguistic humour."
Alastair Clarke identifies the implications of pattern recognition theory beyond anthropology. "Understanding the basic function and mechanism of humour as it begins in infants will benefit the ongoing research into the presence of humour in primates and other mammals." He goes on to propose possible technological developments: "Now that we understand the mechanism of humour the possibility of creating an artificial intelligence being that could develop its own sense of humour becomes very real. This would, for the first time, create an AI capable of exhibiting one of the defining characteristics that make us human, making it seem significantly less robotic as a result."
Alastair Clarke offers two brief illustrations of the theory in instances of humour: "The application of the theory is unique in every instance and for every individual but the following two examples illustrate its basic structure. A common form of humour is the juxtaposition of two pictures, normally of people, in whom we recognize a similarity. What we are witnessing here is spatial repetition, a simple two-term pattern featuring the outline or the features of the first repeated in those of the second. If the pattern is sufficiently convincing (as in the degree to which we perceive repetition), and we are surprised by recognizing it, we will find the stimulus amusing.
"As a second example, related to the first but in a different medium, stand-up comedy regularly features what we might call the It's so true form of humour. As with the first example, the brain recognizes a two-term pattern of repetition between the comedian's depiction and its retained mental image, and if the recognition is surprising, it will be found amusing. The individual may be surprised to hear such things being talked about in public, perhaps because they are taboo, or because the individual has never heard them being articulated before. The only difference between the two examples is that in the first the pattern is recognized between one photograph and the next, and in the second it occurs between the comedian's depiction and the mental image retained by the individual of the matter being portrayed.
"Both of these examples use simple patterns of exact repetition, even if the fidelity of that repetition is poor (for example if the photographs are only vaguely similar). But pattern types can be surprisingly varied, including reflection, reversal, minification and magnification and so on. Sarcasm, for example, functions around a basic pattern of reversal, otherwise known as repetition in opposites. Patterns can also contain many stages, whereas the ones depicted here feature only two terms."
Clarke concludes: "Pattern Recognition answers how and why we find things funny, but it can not say categorically what is funny since no content can be inherently more or less funny than any other. The individual is of paramount importance in determining what they find amusing, bringing memories, associations, meta-meaning, disposition, their tendency to recognize patterns and their comprehension of similarity to the equation. But the theory does offer a vital answer as to why humour exists in every human society."
The Pattern Recognition Theory of Humour is published by Pyrrhic House. This edition of the book presents the fundamentals of the theory for those who work in or comment on related fields. The full-length book, Humour, which expands the explanation of the theory, including over 100 pages of analysis of examples of humour from Chaucer to Monty Python, will be published in October 2008.
该理论应用演化论和认知科学解释了个体如何识别以及为什么他们认为一些事情是有趣的。它指出幽默发生在我们的大脑识别出那些让我们完全“出乎意料”的模式时。此时我们体验到一种正面的积极的"回报"，这种体验被转化为笑声。
我们认为那些具体的内容并不是关键所在，所以在研究中我们转而专注于那些幽默案例的结构，结果证明其内蕴的模式的确起到潜在的导致幽默的作用。当然这些抽象的模式需要依附于某种形式的内容，一旦它们具有了这些内容，幽默的效果在于这些模式的层次，而我们所得到的“回报”也产生于对这些模式的识别。
Clarke说，以前的理论仅能解释一部分的幽默案例，很多都着眼于幽默本身的内容或者受众所处的社会环境。但他们都解释不了为什么某一个人觉得很好笑而其他人对此毫无感觉，或者两个人对于同一幽默的妙处的解释完全不同。
这一理论也揭示出模式识别在人类演化进程中的重要性。人类生存本领的最重要之一就是能够立刻不加思索的识别出模式。幽默的“回报”鼓励我们发展这样的能力。
Clarke关于幽默的新理论也为我们不断加深理解人类认知能力提供了一个基础。我们学习的语法就是一种语言的模式。每个句子的不同仅在于构成句子的单词的不同。
模式识别理论也指出了婴儿在发展认知能力的过程同培养幽默能力之间的相似性。一些好玩的婴幼儿游戏例如“躲猫猫”，“拍手掌”，“打转块”都有着同成人产生幽默感觉相同的机理。“躲猫猫"会让小到4个月大的婴儿产生快乐的反应。这也是“出人意料”的结果。但这种简化版本的幽默机制对于儿童发展认知能力是否有所助益，抑或仅仅是族群演化痕迹在个体中的呈现，仍然悬而未决。
Clarke指出该理论的应用超出人类的范畴。对幽默的功能和机制的了解对于那些出现在灵掌类和其它哺乳动物中的幽默行为的研究也是有助益的。他接着指出“既然我们对于幽默的机制了解了，那么创造出具有‘人的味道’的智能生命体就不再不可想象了。”
该理论在各个案例和受众中的具体应用千差万别，但下面的两个例子说明了它们的基本结构。其中之一是将两个形象（通常是两个人）并置，在它们之间我们将会识别出某种相似性。如果这种相似性令我们信服，我们会发现这种“出人意料”的感觉非常的有趣。
第二个例子以前一个例子为基础，单口相声演员通常会应用“太对了”型幽默。受众在演员描绘的形象同自己的经验体会之间找到某种相似性。如果我们认可这种描绘我们就会有“出人意料”的快乐感受。
上面这些例子都仅仅用了“精确重复”这一简单模式，即使它们重复的精确性可能并不是很高（例如，两个形象可能仅具有模糊的相似性）。然而模式类型本身却可有非常多的变体，包括“反射”，“颠倒”，“缩小”和“放大”等等。比方说，讽刺就是利用了“颠倒”这一模式。模式也会有很多的层次，尽管上面列举的例子只涉及到两者之间的相似性。
Clarke总结道:"模式识别理论解释了如何以及为什么我们觉得某些事情是有趣的，但该理论无法预先把事物归类为有趣或无趣。所以受众在这一过程中具有同样的重要性。他们唤起的记忆，聚合的信息，对信息的加工，内容的不同叙述方式，以及对特定模式的倾向和对相似性的理解方式等等都会影响到其对幽默的理解。但该理论的确对为什么各个文化族群都有幽默这一特质存在提供了一个解释"。
