Do children laugh like their parents? Conversational laughter mimicry occurrence and acoustic alignment in middle-childhood

Do children laugh like their parents? Conversational laughter mimicry occurrence and acoustic alignment in middle-childhood | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Do children laugh like their parents? Conversational laughter mimicry occurrence and acoustic alignment in middle-childhood Chiara Mazzocconi, Benjamin O’Brien, Kübra Bodur, Abdellah Fourtassi This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-4570818/v2 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Published Journal Publication published 26 Feb, 2025 Read the published version in Journal of Nonverbal Behavior → Version 2 posted 3 You are reading this latest preprint version Show more versions Abstract Laughter is ubiquitous and crucial in social interactions. In addition to conveying meaning, it is a valuable means for monitoring interlocutor mental states and mutual cognitive alignment. Laughter has been shown to be informative about the pragmatic development of preschool children. The current paper investigates laughter mimicry and acoustic alignment in middle childhood in a corpus of parent-child (N=16) and parent-adult (N=8) computer-mediated conversations. We performed both distributional and acoustic analyses. While there were no significant differences in terms of laughter frequency between children and adults, transitional probabilities of laughter mimicry were significantly lower in parent-child than in parent-adult interactions, although balanced at an intra-dyad level. A spectro-temporal modulation (STM) analysis revealed that in children, Mimicking laughter is characterised by higher STMs than Isolated laughter. On the other hand, in adult, Mimicking and Isolated laughter do not differ in terms of STMs. Further, we compared distances from genuine and pseudo-random Initiating-Mimicking laughter pairs. In adults, laughs constituting genuine pairs were acoustically more similar than those constituting pseudo-random pairs, showing, therefore, local acoustic alignment and confirming previous studies. No such local laughter alignment was found in Children. Our results suggest that although laughter production during middle childhood resembles adult-like use in terms of frequency, speech-laughter use, arousal, and balance between interactants, it is still significantly different when considering laughter mimicry, both in terms of transitional probabilities and acoustic alignment between interlocutors. Our study forms a basis for discussion on current theoretical models of alignment, its interplay with interactional dynamics, and the entanglement of laughter use with pragmatic development. laughter mimicry alignment middle-childhood child-caregiver interaction interlocutor effect modulation power spectrum Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Supplementary Files MimicryLaughterSupplementalMaterial3.pdf Cite Share Download PDF Status: Published Journal Publication published 26 Feb, 2025 Read the published version in Journal of Nonverbal Behavior → Version 2 posted Editorial decision: Accepted 11 Jan, 2025 Submission checks completed at journal 07 Jan, 2025 First submitted to journal 06 Jan, 2025 You are reading this latest preprint version Show more versions Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-4570818","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":400848530,"identity":"42333278-f297-4303-85ab-cb3c4e6d40c4","order_by":0,"name":"Chiara Mazzocconi","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAABFElEQVRIiWNgGAWjYDACCcYGVAE2dqBAApTzgTgtPAfgWhhnYNWCKZIAZ2LVwj+7ufFzRQ1DNH//8YcPftTY5PFJvjF78LCNQV53RgJjcwUWS+4cbJY8c4whd8aBA8mGPcfSitmkc8wNEtsYDLfdSGBsPIOpxUAisUGygY0ht+FgwzFpxobDiW3SOWYSCWf+MwK1sD9swKql+WfDP4bc+YcZ2yBaJM+AtDDYg23BrqVNsrGNIXfDMWY2iBYJHqCWCoZEXFokbiS2WTb2SeRuPMPGDPJLYhtPWhlIS/K2Mw8bsWnhn5H++GbDN5vceechIZY4v/3wNskfBgy2244nH8SmBWYZVlH0WB4Fo2AUjIJRQCwAAA/Aaxr+zHXWAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC","orcid":"","institution":"Aix-Marseille University","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Chiara","middleName":"","lastName":"Mazzocconi","suffix":""},{"id":400848531,"identity":"cc4e9b2e-94ce-4545-a4fc-91315888af10","order_by":1,"name":"Benjamin O’Brien","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"University of Avignon","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Benjamin","middleName":"","lastName":"O’Brien","suffix":""},{"id":400848532,"identity":"2c5e6fcf-ed5b-421b-a788-25d94979d7c4","order_by":2,"name":"Kübra Bodur","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Aix-Marseille University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Kübra","middleName":"","lastName":"Bodur","suffix":""},{"id":400848533,"identity":"31b40a6c-d31f-4e8c-a2c0-14b181a2e78d","order_by":3,"name":"Abdellah Fourtassi","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Aix-Marseille University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Abdellah","middleName":"","lastName":"Fourtassi","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2024-06-12 14:06:11","currentVersionCode":2,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-4570818/v2","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-4570818/v2","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[{"content":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s10919-025-00478-z","type":"published","date":"2025-02-26T15:58:09+00:00"}],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":77623211,"identity":"8efe8ecf-66a7-413a-af00-038b3a535c93","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-03-03 16:11:12","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":717874,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"MimicryLaughterJONBRevision3nomarkingchanges.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-4570818/v2_covered_fe96f4f4-4312-47e4-8e31-f12e6248402d.pdf"},{"id":73672329,"identity":"c0394dd6-ec3d-4ae6-aef0-3e7645fa7da4","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-01-13 12:47:53","extension":"pdf","order_by":0,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"supplement","size":388799,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"MimicryLaughterSupplementalMaterial3.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-4570818/v2/35740bfa6a09c256ba0b8084.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"No competing interests reported.","formattedTitle":"Do children laugh like their parents? Conversational laughter mimicry occurrence and acoustic alignment in middle-childhood","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":false,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":true,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"journal-of-nonverbal-behavior","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"jonb","sideBox":"Learn more about [Journal of Nonverbal Behavior](http://link.springer.com/journal/10919)","snPcode":"10919","submissionUrl":"https://submission.nature.com/new-submission/10919/3","title":"Journal of Nonverbal Behavior","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":true,"editorialSystem":"em","reportingPortfolio":"Springer Hybrid","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":false},"keywords":"laughter mimicry, alignment, middle-childhood, child-caregiver interaction, interlocutor effect, modulation power spectrum","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-4570818/v2","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-4570818/v2","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"Laughter is ubiquitous and crucial in social interactions. In addition to conveying meaning, it is a valuable means for monitoring interlocutor mental states and mutual cognitive alignment. Laughter has been shown to be informative about the pragmatic development of preschool children. The current paper investigates laughter mimicry and acoustic alignment in middle childhood in a corpus of parent-child (N=16) and parent-adult (N=8) computer-mediated conversations. We performed both distributional and acoustic analyses. While there were no significant differences in terms of laughter frequency between children and adults, transitional probabilities of laughter mimicry were significantly lower in parent-child than in parent-adult interactions, although balanced at an intra-dyad level. A spectro-temporal modulation (STM) analysis revealed that in children, Mimicking laughter is characterised by higher STMs than Isolated laughter. On the other hand, in adult, Mimicking and Isolated laughter do not differ in terms of STMs. Further, we compared distances from genuine and pseudo-random Initiating-Mimicking laughter pairs. In adults, laughs constituting genuine pairs were acoustically more similar than those constituting pseudo-random pairs, showing, therefore, local acoustic alignment and confirming previous studies. No such local laughter alignment was found in Children. Our results suggest that although laughter production during middle childhood resembles adult-like use in terms of frequency, speech-laughter use, arousal, and balance between interactants, it is still significantly different when considering laughter mimicry, both in terms of transitional probabilities and acoustic alignment between interlocutors. Our study forms a basis for discussion on current theoretical models of alignment, its interplay with interactional dynamics, and the entanglement of laughter use with pragmatic development.","manuscriptTitle":"Do children laugh like their parents? Conversational laughter mimicry occurrence and acoustic alignment in middle-childhood","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":2,"date":"2025-01-13 12:31:48","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-4570818/v2","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0},{"type":"decision","content":"Accepted","date":"2025-01-11T13:56:08+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"checksComplete","content":"","date":"2025-01-07T07:11:40+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"submitted","content":"Journal of Nonverbal Behavior","date":"2025-01-06T18:24:56+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"journal-of-nonverbal-behavior","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"jonb","sideBox":"Learn more about [Journal of Nonverbal Behavior](http://link.springer.com/journal/10919)","snPcode":"10919","submissionUrl":"https://submission.nature.com/new-submission/10919/3","title":"Journal of Nonverbal Behavior","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":true,"editorialSystem":"em","reportingPortfolio":"Springer Hybrid","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":false}},{"code":"","date":"2024-10-31 15:23:06","doi":"","editorialEvents":[{"type":"decision","content":"Revision requested","date":"2024-12-22T13:29:36+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorInvitedReview","content":"","date":"2024-11-26T23:22:37+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"50126028363509994501094036410586265265","date":"2024-11-22T13:23:14+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewersInvited","content":"","date":"2024-11-17T13:02:58+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"checksComplete","content":"","date":"2024-11-01T10:04:44+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"submitted","content":"Journal of Nonverbal Behavior","date":"2024-10-31T15:07:12+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"notPreprinted","content":""}],"status":"timeline","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"journal-of-nonverbal-behavior","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"jonb","sideBox":"Learn more about [Journal of Nonverbal Behavior](http://link.springer.com/journal/10919)","snPcode":"10919","submissionUrl":"https://submission.nature.com/new-submission/10919/3","title":"Journal of Nonverbal Behavior","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":true,"editorialSystem":"em","reportingPortfolio":"Springer Hybrid","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":false}},{"code":1,"date":"2024-07-01 10:42:26","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-4570818/v1","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0},{"type":"decision","content":"Revision requested","date":"2024-08-12T11:12:38+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorInvitedReview","content":"","date":"2024-08-07T22:32:06+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorInvitedReview","content":"","date":"2024-08-05T11:10:41+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"50126028363509994501094036410586265265","date":"2024-07-12T15:39:58+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"84060308132697142482434405779964958553","date":"2024-07-08T01:20:08+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewersInvited","content":"","date":"2024-07-06T16:21:36+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorAssigned","content":"","date":"2024-06-14T08:56:14+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"checksComplete","content":"","date":"2024-06-14T08:56:08+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"submitted","content":"Journal of Nonverbal Behavior","date":"2024-06-12T14:03:39+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"journal-of-nonverbal-behavior","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"jonb","sideBox":"Learn more about [Journal of Nonverbal Behavior](http://link.springer.com/journal/10919)","snPcode":"10919","submissionUrl":"https://submission.nature.com/new-submission/10919/3","title":"Journal of Nonverbal Behavior","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":true,"editorialSystem":"em","reportingPortfolio":"Springer Hybrid","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":false}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"cc5795f4-1435-487f-90bd-aa6276a957ae","owner":[],"postedDate":"January 13th, 2025","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"published-in-journal","subjectAreas":[],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2025-03-03T16:08:21+00:00","versionOfRecord":{"articleIdentity":"rs-4570818","link":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s10919-025-00478-z","journal":{"identity":"journal-of-nonverbal-behavior","isVorOnly":false,"title":"Journal of Nonverbal Behavior"},"publishedOn":"2025-02-26 15:58:09","publishedOnDateReadable":"February 26th, 2025"},"versionCreatedAt":"2025-01-13 12:31:48","video":"","vorDoi":"10.1007/s10919-025-00478-z","vorDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s10919-025-00478-z","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v2","identity":"rs-4570818","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-4570818","identity":"rs-4570818","version":["v2"]},"buildId":"8U1c8b4HqxoKbykW_rLl7","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}