The Origins Of Laughter – IELTS Reading Answers

The Origins Of Laughter- IELTS Reading Answers is from an academic reading passage that consists of 13 questions which have to be answered in 20 minutes. The Reading section of the IELTS exam can be your highest-scoring section, but only if you practise diligently. To get the best results, you need to understand how to approach and answer the different types of questions.

To prepare for the IELTS reading test, it is helpful to solve and review sample reading questions from past IELTS papers. This will help you become familiar with the different question formats and test your reading skills.

Let’s try to see how easy you find the academic passage “The Origins Of Laughter” and if you can complete it in 20 minutes. If not, you can try more IELTS reading practice tests from IELTSMaterial.com.

The question types found in The Origins Of Laughter- IELTS reading answers passage are as follows:

• Matching Features (Q1 – 6)
• Summary Completion (Q7 – 10)
• True/False/Not Given (Q11 – 13)

Reading Passage

The Origins Of Laughter

1. While joking and wit are uniquely human inventions, laughter certainly is not. Other creatures, including chimpanzees, gorillas and even rats, laugh. The fact that they laugh suggests that laughter has been around for a lot longer than we have.
2. There is no doubt that laughing typically involves groups of people. “Laughter evolved as a signal to others — it almost disappears when we are alone,” says Robert Provine, a neuroscientist at the University of Maryland. Provine found that most laughter comes as a polite reaction to everyday remarks such as “see you later”, rather than anything particularly funny. And the way we laugh depends on the company we’re keeping. Men tend to laugh longer and harder when they are with other men, perhaps as a way of bonding. Women tend to laugh more and at a higher pitch when men are present, possibly indicating flirtation or even submission.
3. To find the origins of laughter, Provine believes we need to look at play. He points out that the masters of laughing are children, and nowhere is their talent more obvious than in the boisterous antics, and the original context is play. Well-known primate watchers, including Dian Fossey and Jane Goodall, have long argued that chimps laugh while at play. The sound they produce is known as a pant laugh. It seems obvious when you watch their behavior — they even have the same ticklish spots as we do. But after removing the context, the parallel between human laughter and a chimp’s characteristic pant laugh is not so clear. When Provine played a tape of the pant laughs to 119 of his students, for example, only two guessed correctly what it was.
4. These findings underline how chimp and human laughter vary- When we laugh the sound is usually produced by chopping up a single exhalation into a series of shorter with one sound produced on each inward and outward breath. The question is: does this pant laughter have the same source as our own laughter? New research lends weight to the idea that it does. The findings come from Elke Zimmerman, head of the Institute for Zoology in Germany, who compared the sounds made by babies and chimpanzees in response to tickling during the first year of; their life. Using sound spectrographs to reveal the pitch and intensity of vocalizations, she discovered that chimp and human baby laughter follow broadly the same pattern. Zimmerman believes the closeness of baby laughter to chimp laughter supports the idea that laughter was around long before humans arrived on the scene. What started simply as a modification of breathing associated with enjoyable and playful interactions has acquired a symbolic meaning as an indicator of pleasure.
5. Pinpointing when laughter developed is another matter. Humans and chimps share a common ancestor that lived perhaps 8 million years ago, but animals might have been laughing long before that. More distantly related primates, including gorillas, laugh, and anecdotal evidence suggests that other social mammals can do too. Scientists are currently testing such stories with a comparative analysis of just how common laughter is among animals. So far, though, the most compelling evidence for laughter beyond primates comes from research done by Jaak Panksepp from Bowling Green State University, Ohio, into the ultrasonic chirps produced by rats during play and in response to tickling.
6. All this still doesn’t answer the question of why we laugh at all. One idea is that laughter and tickling originated as a way of sealing the relationship between mother and child. Another is that the reflex response to tickling is protective, alerting us to the presence of crawling creatures that might harm us or compelling us to defend the parts of our bodies that are most vulnerable in hand-to-hand combat. But the idea that has gained the most popularity in recent years is that laughter in response to tickling is a way for two individuals to signal and test their trust in one another. This hypothesis starts from the observation that although a little tickle can be enjoyable, if it goes on too long it can be torture. By engaging in a bout of tickling, we put ourselves at the mercy of another individual, and laughing is what makes it a reliable signal of trust, according to Tom Flamson, a laughter researcher at the University of California, Los Angels. “Even in rats, laughter, tickle, play and trust are linked. Rats chirp a lot when they play,” says Flamson. “These chirps can be aroused by tickling. And they get bonded to us as a result, which certainly seems like a show of trust.”
7. We’ll never know which animal laughed the first laugh, or why. But we can be sure it wasn’t in response to a prehistoric joke. The funny thing is that while the origins of laughter are probably quite serious, we owe human laughter and our language-based humour to the same unique skill. While other animals pant, we alone can control our breath well enough to produce the sound of laughter. Without that control there would also be no speech — and no jokes to endure.

Questions 1-6

1. Babies and some animals produce laughter which sounds similar.

2. Primates are not the only animals who produce laughter.

3. Laughter can be used to show that we feel safe and secure with others.

4. Most human laughter is not a response to a humorous situation.

5. Animal laughter evolved before human laughter.

6. Laughter is a social activity.

List of people

A Provine

B Zimmerman

C Panksepp

D Flamson

Questions 7 – 10

Some scientists believe that laughter first developed out of 7 _______. Research has revealed that human and chimp laughter may have the same 8 _______. Scientists have long been aware that 9 _______ laugh, but it now appears that laughter might be more widespread than once thought. Although the reasons why humans started to laugh are still unknown, it seems that laughter may result from the 10 _______ we feel with another person.

A combat

B chirps

C pitch

D origins

E play

F rats

G primates

H confidence

I fear

J babies

K tickling

Question 11 – 13

11. Both men and women laugh more when they are with members of the same sex.
12. Primates lack sufficient breath control to be able to produce laughs the way humans do.
13. Chimpanzees produce laughter in a wider range of situations than rats do.

Check Out – Best IELTS Reading Books 2023

The Origins Of Laughter- IELTS Reading Answers with Location and Explanations 

1. Answer: B

Question type: Matching features

Answer location: Paragraph D, line 4

Answer Explanation: The 4th line of Paragraph D mentions, “Elke Zimmerman, head of the Institute of Zoology in Germany, made a comparison between the sounds that chimpanzees and babies made in response to tickling during the first year of their life.” Based on this passage, Elke Zimmerman, the director of the German Institute of Zoology, examined the sounds produced by chimpanzees and infants in response to tickling during the initial year of life. Therefore, the answer is B.

2. Answer: C

Question type: Matching features

Answer location: Paragraph E, last line

Answer explanation: In the last line of paragraph E, the author says, “So far, though, the most compelling evidence for laughter beyond primates comes from research done by Jaak Panksepp from Bowling Green State University, Ohio, into the ultrasonic chirps produced by rats during play and in response to tickling” Therefore, we can determine that the current research conducted by Jaak Panksepp from Bowling Green State University, Ohio, on the laughter exhibited by rats when they are tickled, represents the most compelling evidence that laughter extends beyond primates. Hence the answer is C.

3. Answer: D

Question type: Matching features

Answer location: Paragraph F, last line

Answer explanation: In the last line of paragraph F, the writer states, “Tickling can arouse these chips and as a result, they get bonded, which certainly seems like a show of trust.” From these lines, we can understand that Flamson suggests a connection between tickling, play, and trust in rats. Rats play actively and often emit high-pitched chirps. Tickling can induce these chirps, leading them to engage in playful behavior, which appears to be an expression of trust. Therefore, the answer is D.

4. Answer: A

Question type: Matching features

Answer location: Paragraph B, line 2

Answer explanation: The 2nd line of Paragraph B states, “Robert Provine, a neuroscientist of the University of Maryland, in the mentioned paragraph says that laughter is like a signal to others and almost disappears when we are alone.” Based on the text above, laughter serves as a way to communicate with others and mostly disappears when we are alone, as stated by Robert Provine, a neuroscientist from the University of Maryland. Therefore, the answer is A.

5. Answer: B

Question type: Matching features

Answer location: Paragraph D, line 7

Answer explanation: The 7th line of Paragraph D mentions, “The similarities between the laughter of babies and chimpanzees, according to Elke Zimmerman, supports the theory that animal’s laughter evolved way before humans ever arrived on the scene.” It can be concluded that there is proof backing the notion that chimpanzees and infants have similarities in their laughter, indicating that chimpanzees and infants shared laughter well before humans did. Therefore, the answer is B.

Tips for Answering the Question Types in the The Origins Of Laughter- IELTS Reading Answers 

Now that you know the ‘The Origins Of Laughter- IELTS Reading Answers’ with its explanation, let us check out some quick tips to answer the 3 question types in the  The Origins Of Laughter– IELTS Reading Answers.

Matching Features

Multiple-choice questions (MCQs) are a common type of question in the IELTS Reading test. They assess your ability to understand the meaning of a text and identify the correct answer from a list of options. Here are some tips for answering MCQs in IELTS Reading:

• Before you start answering the questions, read the first question carefully and identify the key words or phrases.
• Scan the passage from the beginning, paying attention to sections that contain information related to the key words you identified.
• Once you locate information that matches the key words, focus on that area of the text to find the answer. The answer should be in close proximity to the key words.
• After you’ve identified a potential answer, read a few more lines of the text to confirm its accuracy. Additionally, reread the question to ensure the answer aligns with what is being asked.
• Repeat this strategy for the remaining questions, but instead of starting from the beginning of the passage, pick up where you left off in the previous question.
• If you find an alternative strategy that suits you better, feel free to use it. Remember, there is no single “correct” approach to answering IELTS Reading questions.

Summary Completion

Summary completion is a type of question format used in the IELTS Academic Reading test. It assesses your ability to understand details within the text and to identify the main idea. Here are some tips for answering summary completion questions:

• Read the question carefully. Make sure you understand what the question is asking you to do.
• Skim the summary. Try to get a general understanding of the meaning of the summary.
• Scan the text. Look for the information that you need to fill in the blanks.
• Choose the words that fit the meaning of the summary and the context of the text.
• Check your answers. Make sure that your answers make sense and that they fit the blanks correctly.

True/ False/ Not Given

True/False/Not Given questions in the IELTS Reading test require you to decide whether a statement is true, false, or not given according to the information in the passage. Here are some tips to ace this type of question:

• Before answering a question, take the time to understand it fully. Don’t make assumptions about the facts given. If you know something about the topic, put it aside and focus on the text. Your assumptions may be wrong and cost you marks.
• Don’t rely only on keywords. Read the text and question carefully. The text may contain many paraphrased versions of the facts given, so you need to be careful and look for them. This means having a good vocabulary and knowing synonyms and antonyms.
• Some words, such as “some,” “never,” “always,” “believe,” and “claim,” can completely change the meaning of a sentence. That’s why it’s important to read the sentence carefully to avoid mistakes.
• The answer is not always based on keywords. Sometimes the keywords are the same, but the meaning of the sentence is completely different.
• At least one answer to each question will be True, False, or Not Given. The answer is False when the text states one meaning and the fact given states another

Additional IELTS Reading Answers Topics

Here are some of the most recent and popular IELTS Reading topics, which have also been featured on recent IELTS exams.

• What Does the Consumer Think?- IELTS Reading Answers | IELTSMaterial.com
• Communicating in Colour, The Pursuit of Happiness, The Deep Sea Reading Answers
• Neuroaesthetics – IELTS Reading Answers
• The Phoenicians: An Almost Forgotten People Reading Answers
• Bilingualism in Children, Changing Rules for Health Treatment, The Romantic Poets Reading Answers
• The Grapes of Winter, Islands That Float, Ocean Plant life in decline – Reading Answers