Baby Development – Humor Shown to Be Fundamental to Our Success as a Species

By Colleen Hurley, RD, Certified Kid’s Nutrition Specialist

Explaining why we find things funny as well the reason why laughter is common in all societies, the Pattern Recognition Theory also reveals how laughter has been critical to human evolution and remains vital to infantile cognitive development. 

Psychologists, literary critics, and philosophers have focused on why we “get the joke” or what we find funny stating that a global humor theory would be impossible. Clarke explains that just as a group of individuals can react differently to the same joke, we must analyze the process and structure responsible for the individual’s response.  Hence the name the pattern recognition theory; the theory finds that when the brain recognizes a pattern that surprises it, the result is laughter.

How can this be applied to baby development? As Clarke states, humor is actually more about basic cognitive function than a good joke.  By recognizing patterns, we are able to quickly understand our environment and appropriately function within that environment as well as pick up on language semantics. In regards to babies, this theory sheds new light on old tests that utilize humor to diagnose neurological or psychological conditions and will provide insight into proper language development in infants.

Using the game “peek-a-boo” to illustrate his theory, Clarke explains that the result of the game elicits the same mechanism for humor seen in adults.  As early as 4 months old, babies can giggle at a round of “peek-a-boo” which Clarke feels is a process of surprise recognition resulting in a clear pattern.  These patterns in childhood humor become more complex and take on temporal elements until the child eventually begins to understand the patterns involved in linguistics.   Clarke’s humor theory does not attempt to explain exactly what we find funny, as that is the result of an individual’s combination of life experiences and perceptions.