Laughter Lab

Fun exhibition at the Cartoon Museum investigating the psychology behind cartoon humour

This mass public experiment led by Robert Dunbar, Professor of Evolutionary Psychology at the University of Oxford, took the form of pairs of cartoons from which you were invited to pick the one you found funniest and record this on a questionnaire.

I had recently done a talk on humour in art at which the curator of this show spoke so I was interested to see how it worked in practice. If nothing else it was a chance to see some interesting examples from their collection and I have registered to see the results when they are released. It was hard to know from the combinations what factors were being investigated so it will be fascinating to see the results.

I had not visited the museum since it moved and I must say it is looking good in its new venue. There seems to be more room for the permanent collection which was set out well. There was a friendly welcome which was appreciated.

Closes 5 June 2022

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