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We sometimes make our 7 months old baby laugh. And, at these moments he laughs a lot, which we think is good for his development. However, I want to support this claim with some empirical research findings.

I wonder if there are any scientific studies on this topic?

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    I don't have time to research this for a full answer, but there's a ton of research on laughter in babies. This TedTalk might be a good place to start looking, or some of the references in this paper on parental affect might also be good places to look. There's no question that it's good for development to laugh - emotional, if not intellectual, development for sure. Someone may just need to find the studies for you. – Joe Jul 17 '20 at 16:40
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    One note though - tickling induced laughter is a bit different from other things, from what I've seen. Tickling laughter is a reflex, and can actually accompany feelings of pain or unhappiness but still include laughter - not always, or not even often for most kids, but do be aware it's different from laughter brought on by an emotional state or a reaction to something they perceive visually or orally. – Joe Jul 17 '20 at 16:41

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