Vigorous tickling also elicited the rats’ signature form of laughter—ultrasonic vocalizations (USV’s) at a frequency at or above 50 kilohertz, which is above the range of human hearing.

One morning 10 years ago, psychologist Jaak Panksepp walked into his lab and made an unusual proposition to a research assistant: “Come tickle some rats with me!” Panksepp wasn’t just trying to ...

A children’s author, the host of a television show and an NPR commentator are the guests at the premiere of Season 2 of “Pretending to Be on Television with Glen Tickle” Sunday, J… ...

Do Animals Laugh? Tickle Experiments Suggest They Do Studies of laughing chimpanzees and rats offer clues about our evolutionary past—as well as our mental health.

The way people laugh when tickled is “uniquely different” from other laughter such as when hearing a joke, according to a new study.

Like human infants, young apes are known to hoot and holler when you tickle them. But is it fair to say that those playful calls are really laughter? The answer to that question is yes, according ...