title: Mirth and laughter elicited during brain stimulation.
abstract: There are few reports of laughter and/or mirth evoked by electrical stimulation of the brain. In this study, we present a patient with intractable epilepsy in whom mirth and laughter was consistently produced during stimulation of the left inferior frontal gyrus (opercular part) using stereotactically placed depth electrodes. A review of the literature shows that cortical sites that produce mirth when stimulated are located in the dominant hemisphere close to language areas or cortical negative motor areas.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH, USA. guadalupe.fernandezbacavaca2@uhhospitals.org
authors.forename: Guadalupe
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Fernández-Baca Vaca
authors.forename: Hans O
authors.initials: HO
authors.lastname: Lüders
authors.forename: Maysaa Merhi
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Basha
authors.forename: Jonathan P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Miller
mesh_terms: D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology*; D004292:Dominance, Cerebral / Q000502:physiology; D004558:Electric Stimulation; D004569:Electroencephalography; D004827:Epilepsy / Q000150:complications / Q000601:surgery; D005260:Female; D005625:Frontal Lobe / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D007845:Laughter / Q000502:physiology*; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008875:Middle Aged; D009044:Motor Cortex / Q000502:physiology; D019635:Neurosurgical Procedures; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed