Types of laughter

An echoic Memory

I was in my car with Lola and her friend. I’d just picked them up from art lessons. They were excited about their class, talking about what they did and the people they met during their first session. Lola said something about the way her friend laughs, and they started talking about types of laughter. Apparently, Lola started copying her friend’s mum’s laugh and doesn’t know why. And her friend is now laughing like a movie character - she simply “can’t help it”. As I overhear this conversation, I can’t help but smile the entire time. I find it incredibly wholesome - two 11-year-old girls being so aware of how they laugh. And how amazing is it that they know it’s temporary? They know, “this is how I laugh now” - tomorrow, it might change, and that’s just fine.

Echoic Memory

“Echoic memory is a memory system that involves the temporary storage of auditory information. It allows individuals to briefly retain and recall sounds that have been heard, similar to how episodic memory supports the retrieval of past experiences.” (https://www.sciencedirect.com/)

This is Marisol. When I “look” at this photo, I’m not really looking at it. I can hear it. I know the sound of it. The sound of her laugh. I know it like the back of my hand. A quiet ha! followed by a loud HA! Two ha’s. ha HA!.

The sound of laughter is something that sticks with us for life. I’m trying to remember all the ways I’ve laughed throughout the years, but I can’t. I guess I need to learn from Lola and her friend. But I do pay attention to all the laughter that surrounds me.

My friend Alexa has a laugh I love. She snorts a lot, and it’s so contagious. It makes me think of that bit in Amelié when she find out her crush, Nino, records crazy laughs. I remember watching Amelié for the first time and thinking, that guy is a genius.

My grandma had a very particular way of laughing too. She’d let out this little yell - it was like a series of tiny yells, all strung together. Extremely adorable.

Do yourself a favour now: think of the laughs you love.

Breathe in - 4, 3, 2, 1

Breath out - 4, 3, 2, 1

Close your eyes and go on a little laughter journey.

While I was researching for this post, I read a lot about types of memory. One article I loved was The Musical Brain.

“During listening, acoustic features of sounds are extracted in the auditory system (in the auditory brainstem, thalamus, and auditory cortex). To establish auditory percepts of melodies and rhythms (i.e., to establish auditory “Gestalten” and auditory objects), sound information is buffered and processed in the auditory sensory memory. Musical structure is then processed based on acoustical similarities and rhythmical organisation, and according to (implicit) knowledge about musical regularities underlying scales, melodic and harmonic progressions, etc. These structures are based on both local and (hierarchically organised) nonlocal dependencies. In addition, music can evoke representations of meaningful concepts, and elicit emotions. This chapter reviews neural correlates of these processes, with regard to both brain-electric responses to sounds, and the neuroanatomical architecture of music perception.” (https://www.sciencedirect.com/)

Isn’t laughter music to our ears?

It is indeed.

Back to Lola’s conversation with her friend - They kept talking about laughter for a while. Lola tried to emulate her own laughing style, and even did a little essay about it. About when she thinks her laugh changed, how it shifts a bit when she’s feeling shy, or around different people, or compared to when she was “younger”.

Does your laugh change depending on who you’re with?

Oh, it does. I probably have a different laugh in each language. WHAT? - that shit’s wild.

Does laughter change with age? Hell YES. Just like our voices do - laughter evolves too.

When I was listening to Lola talk about laughter, I thought about all my past laughs. I can’t quite recall the sound but I can see it. I can see Sina laughing at 12, at 20, when she left home and moved to Spain, when she had her first baby, when she finally felt comfortable in her body. All those laughs were different.

I even went through my phone videos to listen to myself laughing. I know exactly how my body felt in those moments. There’s a particular video of me and my friend Simon in the snow - he fell, and I laughed so hard. What a beautiful laugh. It made my heart expand when I heard it.

This isn’t about dissecting laughter. I’m not here to tell you how we “should” laugh more, or go on about its benefits. Laughter is too big and wise to be dissected. If anything, it dissects us.

I can already see changes in Lola’s laugh. I can see her becoming more self-conscious. But when she’s not - Wow!. And Lara! She’s in her laughing prime. When she laughs, I feel like breathing really deep just to steal some of that joy. That youth! haha!

Sometimes when Lara’s laughing, I think of my brother. He had a very similar laugh when he was her age now. I’ve told him this before - how, in my dreams, I can only see him as a little boy. I guess my sense of protection toward him was strong it took over my whole body. I mean, I know he’s an adult now (an awesome one), but the way he lives in my memory will forever be as that six-year-old boy who laughed his heart out. Which makes me think: laughter has an incredibly deep connection to memory.

3-year-old Oscar laughing and eating arepa

Where do you go when you remember past laughs?

The anatomy of a laugh is full of magic.

As someone with family and friends spread all over the world, most of our communication happens through video calls or voice notes. My cousin sent me a video the other day - in it, she’s laughing. And through that laugh, I travelled in time. Not just in time - in emotion. I felt the way I used to feel. Being the little one. Being looked after by older cousins. Seeing them as role models. Not knowing what destiny had in mind for me.

My auntie Marisol still laughs the same way. I guess by the time I stored her laugh in my brain, she had already settled into it. I’m sure she had different laughs throughout her life. I wish I knew all of them. But I’m happy with the one I know.

The evolution of a laugh is also full of magic.

Children and older people laugh in similar ways - have you noticed that? I’m sure you have. It’s amazing, the way we circle back to our inner child’s laugh. That, to me, is one of the answers to “what’s the meaning of life” - To go back to your inner child’s laugh.

Holy fuck.

I’m a poet.

When we laugh with someone, we unknowingly sign little emotional contracts with them. This moment will live inside us forever. Even if we drift apart, we move to different countries, life takes us in opposite directions. Sometimes I hear a laugh that sounds like someone I used to love, and it pulls something inside me. This is not sad, this is like opening a book you thought you lost or finding money in your pocket.

Maybe that’s the final thing I want to say: your laugh is an archive. Even if you don’t remember them all, your body does. It carries every version of joy you’ve ever felt. Every echo of connection. Every ridiculous moment that made you forget everything else.

Te quiero mucho!

Sina