<p>Two things come to mind for me.. First, at a very basic level, things that are perceptually salient capture our attention (<a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11994752" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Corbetta &amp; Shulman, 2002</a>), and this is obviously important for understanding our environment and assessing changes for threats (e.g.). In the video you linked, you have that perceptual salience and it's also in an animated and clearly exaggerated fashion.</p>

<p>The second thing that comes to mind is the voices that older children and adults make when communicating with infants. This sort of speech seems to serve an attentional/affective function (<a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22225130" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Gauthier &amp; Shi, 2011</a>), and research suggests that this sort of speech is actually a reflection of the infant's own communication styles (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/15250000802188719" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Smith &amp; Trainor, 2008</a>). Obviously, we might use such a voice because it sounds funny to them and we might get the infant to laugh. Who knows whether we intrinsically find it funny (if so, why?), or whether we learn to laugh at it as infants. It could well be that we simply come hardwired to interpret a perceptually salient <em>and non-threatening</em> social stimulus like that to be amusing.</p>

<p><strong>References</strong></p>

<p>Corbetta, M., &amp; Shulman, G. L. (2002). Control of goal-directed and stimulus-driven attention in the brain. <em>Nature reviews neuroscience</em>, 3(3), 201.<br>DOI: <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/nrn755" rel="nofollow noreferrer">10.1038/nrn755</a> PMID: <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11994752" rel="nofollow noreferrer">11994752</a></p>

<p>Gauthier, B., &amp; Shi, R. (2011). A connectionist study on the role of pitch in infant-directed speech. <em>The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America</em>, 130(6), EL380-EL386.<br>DOI: <a href="https://doi.org/10.1121/1.3653546" rel="nofollow noreferrer">10.1121/1.3653546</a> PMID: <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22225130" rel="nofollow noreferrer">22225130</a></p>

<p>Smith, N. A., &amp; Trainor, L. J. (2008). Infant-directed speech is modulated by infant feedback. <em>Infancy</em>, 13(4), 410-420.<br>DOI: <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/15250000802188719" rel="nofollow noreferrer">10.1080/15250000802188719</a></p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-06-02T14:19:18.973Z
Welcome to Psychology.SE. Do you have any reference materials to provide which back up your claims? We require answers to be backed up by research and as it stands, your answer could be open to challenge as just opinion.
Chris Rogers
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-06-02T14:56:04.210Z
I realised after I posted I probably should have backed up the points. Updated the post now.
fffrost
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-06-02T11:49:00.090Z
2018-06-02T15:09:36.323Z
2018-06-02T15:09:36.323Z
fffrost
<p>I believe it's understood what type of voice I'm refering to, but for context I'm linking this youtube video where that type of voice is clearly heard:</p>

<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hfms-v6G7n8" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hfms-v6G7n8</a></p>

<p>Why do people in general find such type of voice funny?</p>

<humour>
Why do we find high pitched voices funny?
user2638180
# Why do we find high pitched voices funny?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2018-06-01)

I believe it's understood what type of voice I'm refering to, but for context I'm linking this youtube video where that type of voice is clearly heard:

<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hfms-v6G7n8>

Why do people in general find such type of voice funny?

**Tags:** humour


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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2018-06-02. Score: 5 | Accepted answer

Two things come to mind for me.. First, at a very basic level, things that are perceptually salient capture our attention ([Corbetta & Shulman, 2002](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11994752)), and this is obviously important for understanding our environment and assessing changes for threats (e.g.). In the video you linked, you have that perceptual salience and it's also in an animated and clearly exaggerated fashion.

The second thing that comes to mind is the voices that older children and adults make when communicating with infants. This sort of speech seems to serve an attentional/affective function ([Gauthier & Shi, 2011](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22225130)), and research suggests that this sort of speech is actually a reflection of the infant's own communication styles ([Smith & Trainor, 2008](https://doi.org/10.1080/15250000802188719)). Obviously, we might use such a voice because it sounds funny to them and we might get the infant to laugh. Who knows whether we intrinsically find it funny (if so, why?), or whether we learn to laugh at it as infants. It could well be that we simply come hardwired to interpret a perceptually salient *and non-threatening* social stimulus like that to be amusing.

**References**

Corbetta, M., & Shulman, G. L. (2002). Control of goal-directed and stimulus-driven attention in the brain. *Nature reviews neuroscience*, 3(3), 201.  
DOI: [10.1038/nrn755](https://doi.org/10.1038/nrn755) PMID: [11994752](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11994752)

Gauthier, B., & Shi, R. (2011). A connectionist study on the role of pitch in infant-directed speech. *The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America*, 130(6), EL380-EL386.  
DOI: [10.1121/1.3653546](https://doi.org/10.1121/1.3653546) PMID: [22225130](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22225130)

Smith, N. A., & Trainor, L. J. (2008). Infant-directed speech is modulated by infant feedback. *Infancy*, 13(4), 410-420.  
DOI: [10.1080/15250000802188719](https://doi.org/10.1080/15250000802188719)

> **Comments:**
> **username_2**: Welcome to Psychology.SE. Do you have any reference materials to provide which back up your claims? We require answers to be backed up by research and as it stands, your answer could be open to challenge as just opinion.  
> **username_1**: I realised after I posted I probably should have backed up the points. Updated the post now.  

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