Academic Journal
Laughter gains access to awareness at the threshold of consciousness.
| Title: | Laughter gains access to awareness at the threshold of consciousness. |
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| Authors: | Castiblanco Jimenez IA; Department of Psychology, University of Turin, Via Verdi 10, Italy. Electronic address: ivonneangelica.castiblancojimenez@unito.it., Ciorli T; Department of Psychology, University of Turin, Via Verdi 10, Italy. Electronic address: tommaso.ciorli@unito.it., Froio M; Department of Psychology, University of Turin, Via Verdi 10, Italy. Electronic address: martina.froio@unito.it., D'Alterio A; Department of Psychology, University of Turin, Via Verdi 10, Italy. Electronic address: andrea.dalterio@unito.it., Castoldi MS; Department of Psychology, University of Turin, Via Verdi 10, Italy. Electronic address: maria.castoldi@edu.unito.it., Mosso CO; Department of Psychology, University of Turin, Via Verdi 10, Italy. Electronic address: cristina.mosso@unito.it., Celeghin A; Department of Psychology, University of Turin, Via Verdi 10, Italy; NIT, Neuroscience Institute of Turin, Italy. Electronic address: alessia.celeghin@unito.it. |
| Source: | Consciousness and cognition [Conscious Cogn] 2026 Jun; Vol. 142, pp. 104063. Date of Electronic Publication: 2026 Apr 26. |
| Publication Type: | Journal Article |
| Language: | English |
| Journal Info: | Publisher: Academic Press Country of Publication: United States NLM ID: 9303140 Publication Model: Print-Electronic Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 1090-2376 (Electronic) Linking ISSN: 10538100 NLM ISO Abbreviation: Conscious Cogn Subsets: MEDLINE |
| Imprint Name(s): | Original Publication: San Diego : Academic Press, c1992- |
| MeSH Terms: | Awareness*/physiology , Laughter*/physiology , Consciousness*/physiology , Facial Recognition*/physiology , Facial Expression* , Social Perception*, Humans ; Female ; Young Adult ; Adult ; Male |
| Abstract: | Emotional stimuli can influence behavior across varying levels of conscious awareness, yet the extent to which different social signals gain access to awareness remains unclear. Although unconscious processing has been extensively investigated for threat-related expressions, less is known about the awareness dynamics of socio-emotional signals such as laughter. The present study examined whether dynamic laughter expressions differ from crying and neutral facial expressions in their access to visual awareness. Across two experiments, participants viewed dynamic facial stimuli rendered invisible using Continuous Flash Suppression and reported stimulus category and subjective visibility using the Perceptual Awareness Scale. Processing at reduced levels of awareness was assessed using discrimination sensitivity as a function of reported visibility. In Experiment 1, laughter expressions were more likely than crying expressions to overcome visual suppression, with discrimination performance increasing at intermediate awareness levels. Experiment 2 included neutral expressions to control Type-1 and Type-2 response biases and revealed a graded pattern of suppression resistance, with neutral expressions showing the strongest suppression, crying expressions intermediate resistance, and laughter expressions the weakest suppression resistance. Through both experiments, laughter gained access to awareness more readily than crying or neutral expressions, particularly at the transition between minimal awareness and conscious perception. These findings suggest that socially relevant emotional signals differ in their thresholds for conscious access and highlight laughter as a signal that is prioritized when perceptual awareness is limited. (Copyright © 2026 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.) |
| Competing Interests: | Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper. |
| Contributed Indexing: | Keywords: Conscious awareness; Continuous flash suppression; Emotional facial expressions; Laughter; Perceptual awareness scale; Social signals; Visual suppression |
| Entry Date(s): | Date Created: 20260427 Date Completed: 20260613 Latest Revision: 20260613 |
| Update Code: | 20260615 |
| DOI: | 10.1016/j.concog.2026.104063 |
| PMID: | 42044547 |
| Database: | MEDLINE |
| ISSN: | 1090-2376 |
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| DOI: | 10.1016/j.concog.2026.104063 |