Jan 20, 2026: Why is it so hard to suppress laughter?

This question was the center of a recent SFB publication from the Cognition, Emotion and Behavior Lab at the University of Göttingen. SFB members Vanessa Mitschke, Annika Ziereis, Sriranjani Manivasagam and Anne Schacht showed not only that laughing is indeed very contagious, but also that hearing someone laugh makes jokes funnier. The new study was published in Communications Psychology and met with large public interest, being picked up by multiple media outlets.
We here present a selection of media reports:
Spektrum der Wissenschaft
EurekAlert!
Nautilus
NDR
Radio 1
RBB Die Profis – Der Wissenschaftspodcast (Jan 10, 2026)
Deutschlandfunk Nova
StudyFinds
Indian Express