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(a) DCM results for effective connectivity without ratings during creativity processing: Results of the DCM analysis are presented as connection weights given by the time constants in Hz for intrinsic connections (A matrix) and bilinear moderators (B matrix) for which effects are significant (at 99% confidence). Connection strengths are represented in numbers and colors. Positive modulatory effects (excitatory connections) are represented with positive numbers, while negative modulatory effects (inhibitory connections) are represented with minus signs. The numbers indicate the strength of directed connectivity in Hz. Modulatory effect in creativity processing for AU (typical), AES (atypical), and CB (baseline) forms. The red lines represent positive modulatory effects, and the blue lines represent negative modulatory effects. Line thickness represents connection strength. The DCM results show amygdala hub networks during creativity processing. (b) DCM results for effective connectivity with in‐scan and post‐scan ratings as covariates during creativity processing: (Upper) Results of the DCM analysis with ratings as covariates showed the amygdala served as a creativity processing hub. The green lines represent the AU condition, red lines reflect the AES condition, and brown lines denote the CB baseline condition. Significant connectivity occurred from the amygdala to the IFG in the AES condition and from the amygdala to the precuneus in the AU condition during novelty appreciation. During usefulness appreciation, significant connectivity occurred from the amygdala to the precuneus in the CB condition and from the amygdala to the IPL in the AU condition. During the appreciation of aesthetic quality, significant connectivity occurred from the amygdala to the IFG and to the precuneus in the AES condition. Also, the amygdala had a positive self‐connection in both the AU and CB conditions indicating an increase in the inhibition of the amygdala to decrease appreciation of aesthetic quality in the AU and CB conditions. (Lower) The graphs show that ratings significantly differentiate between the AU, AES, and CB conditions during the processing of the evaluation of novelty, usefulness, and aesthetic quality. Error bars represent the standard deviation (SD) of the mean. Five nodes: VTA, ventral tegmental area; AMG, amygdala; PCu, precuneus; IFG, inferior frontal gyrus; IPL, inferior parietal lobule. Three forms: AU, alternate uses (novel and useful); AES, aesthetic uses (novel but not practically useful); CB, noncreative uses (baseline; familiar uses). ***p < .001.
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Although both creativity and humor elicit experiences of surprise followed by appreciation, it remains unknown whether shared or distinct patterns of effective connectivity are involved in their processing. The present fMRI study used dynamic causal modeling and parametrical empirical Bayes analysis to examine the effective connectivity between the...
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The current study investigates the associations between personality and humor structure appreciation. A total of 509 participants completed the Big Five Inventory–2 and the Humor Structure Appreciation Scale. The results showed that, as expected, open-mindedness was associated with a preference for nonsense (NON) over incongruity-resolution (INC-RE...
Citations
... More precisely, Beaty and colleagues [51] proved dissociable contributions of episodic and semantic memory processes to creative cognition, suggesting that distinct regions within the DMN, which is usually associated with spontaneous and self-generated thought, support specific memoryrelated processes during the execution of a creative task. During humor comprehension, the DMN and the precuneus presented positive connections to the amygdala, supporting the presence of spontaneous topdown cognitive and affective processes [52]. Furthermore, also subcortical structures are involved in creativity and humor in which the amygdalawhich presents important connections to the inferior frontal gyrusplays a crucial role, supporting the elaboration of pleasure and appreciation of the creative and humorous outcomes [50,52]. ...
... During humor comprehension, the DMN and the precuneus presented positive connections to the amygdala, supporting the presence of spontaneous topdown cognitive and affective processes [52]. Furthermore, also subcortical structures are involved in creativity and humor in which the amygdalawhich presents important connections to the inferior frontal gyrusplays a crucial role, supporting the elaboration of pleasure and appreciation of the creative and humorous outcomes [50,52]. ...
In the paper the possible links between creative thinking and humor are sketched and their role in promoting well-being in the elderly is taken into account. The specific features of creative thinking in older people and its developmental trend in aging are outlined. The changes in humor which occur during aging are considered as well. The connections between creative thinking and humor are analysed, by highlighting the cognitive mechanisms which are shared and the alleged common neural underpinnings. The functions which creativity and humor can play to promote well-being in late adulthood are discussed. These functions refer to the way older people can interpret their own experience, interact and communicate with others, and face daily problems.
... Although there have been hundreds of studies of flow, only a few pioneering ones have investigated its neural substrates (Alameda et al., 2022;Gold and Ciorciari, 2020;Huskey et al., 2018;Ulrich et al., 2016;van der Linden et al., 2020). In contrast, dozens of studies have investigated the neural basis of creativity, many with emphasis on large-scale networks (van der Linden et al., 2020) such as the default-mode network (DMN; Buckner and DiNicola, 2019;Menon, 2023;Raichle et al., 2001) and the fronto-parietal control network (FPCN, Menon and D'Esposito, 2022; sometimes referred to as the central executive network (CEN) or the executive control network (ECN), Beaty et al., 2016;Benedek et al., 2023;Chan et al., 2023). The DMN is typically active during self-referential thought, autobiographical memory retrieval, future thought, social information processing, mind-wandering, and other types of cognition that require relative disengagement from environmental stimuli (Buckner, 2013;Buckner, 2022). ...
... We additionally conducted an exploratory analysis to investigate group differences in the hemodynamic response of brain areas during implicit processing of the words plus laughter conditions and the NV condition, to unpack humour and laughter; we did not have strong predictions about neural differences in the autistic group. Four regions were selected based on a prior interest from the whole-brain results: these correspond to regions associated with hearing sounds and processing speech and emotional vocalisations (HG and the STG respectively; [24,49]); responses to heard laughter (SMA; [16,24]) and responses to humour (precuneus; [50][51][52]). The nite impulse response (FIR) event-related time courses were extracted, with an FIR length of 30 sec and time bins of 3 seconds, across all trials of interest. ...
... In addition to laughter perception-related areas such as the mPFC and sensorimotor network, we also report signi cant results associated with the processing of words plus laughter in auditory elds associated with the perception of non-verbal emotional vocalisations and speech, and more notably in the precuneus, posterior bilateral cingulate cortex and primary visual elds. The precuneus has been associated with studies both of mentalizing [59,60] and of humour [50][51][52], and its involvement in laughter modulating how funny words seem suggests that it may be an important component in the processes underlying this modulation. The laughter may provoke a further rumination on the meaning of the word, its possible humorous associations, and perhaps the intentions of the person laughing. ...
Background While most research on the non-verbal communication challenges encountered by autistic people centres on visual stimuli, non-verbal vocalizations remains overlooked. Laughter serves as a socio-emotional signal for affiliative bonding in interactions. Autistic people seem to experience and produce laughter differently to non-autistic people and are known to have mentalizing difficulties. Neuroimaging evidence suggests that non-autistic people engage in mentalizing to understand the meaning behind conversational laughter. Here, we propose that autistic people’s difficulties lie not in processing all types of laughter, but only in processing conversational laughter.
Methods We used fMRI to explore the neural mechanisms underlying implicit processing of different types of laughter in autistic and non-autistic adults. 23 autistic and 23 non-autistic adults matched for age, gender, and IQ were scanned whilst passively listening to funny words followed by spontaneous laughter, conversational laughter, or noise-vocoded vocalizations. Post-scan, they listened to the word plus laughter pairs again and rated the funniness of each word.
Results Behaviourally, words plus spontaneous laughter were rated as funnier than words plus conversational laughter, and the groups did not differ. However, neuroimaging results showed increased activation in the medial prefrontal cortex only for non-autistic adults during implicit processing of words plus conversational laughter. Additionally, autistic adults showed greater activation in the supplementary motor area, a part of the sensorimotor network, when listening to words plus either type of laughter.
Limitations Our current design does not disentangle the processing of humour and laughter, with insufficient temporal resolution for their neural distinction, suggesting a need for future research with more temporally-precise techniques.
Conclusions While both non-autistic and autistic adults find laughter makes funny words funnier, there are differences in autism in the neural mechanisms that support mentalizing and contagion during implicit laughter processing. This study reinforces the idea that the essence of laughter serves both as an emotional expression and a sophisticated social signal during communication. It also highlights the challenges that autistic people face in understanding the meaning behind the conversational laughter we consistently encounter in everyday life, which may lead them to social vulnerability. Altogether, we advocate for clearer communication with autistic people.
... Most neuroimaging studies examining humor comprehension and appreciation have used single-panel cartoons (Azim et al., 2005;Chan et al., 2018aChan et al., , 2022Kohn et al., 2011;Mobbs et al., 2003;Moran et al., 2004;Samson et al., 2008Samson et al., , 2009Watson et al., 2007) and two-stage verbal jokes with visual stimuli (Chan et al., 2012(Chan et al., , 2013(Chan et al., , 2016(Chan et al., , 2023aChan & Lavallee, 2015;Chan, 2016aChan, , 2016bLi, 2020). Few studies have used the two-stage structure for cartoons (Bartolo et al., 2006;Chan,2023;Chan et al., 2023b) and one-liner jokes (Chan et al., 2018b) (Table 1). Some humor studies have used verbal jokes with auditory stimuli (e.g., Goel & Dolan, 2001). ...
... To laugh or not to laugh: That is the question of humor techniques and sex differences Humor can be further divided into two categories: incongruity-resolution humor and nonsense humor (Chan et al., 2023b). Incongruity-resolution humor, discussed at length above, represents the 'typical' form of humor. ...
... Nonsense humor (also known as absurd humor) refers to obviously impossible, unreal, abnormal or exaggerated situations to generate incongruity but the incongruity is either only partly resolved or not resolved at all. Nonsense humor thus represents an 'atypical' form of humor in which no real resolution may be possible following the surprise generated by the punch line (Chan et al., 2023b;Samson et al., 2008, Ruch, 1992 (Table 2). The processing of incongruity-resolution humor compared to that of nonsense humor shows greater activation in the left anterior medial prefrontal cortex (aMFG), bilateral superior frontal cortex (SFG), bilateral temporo-parietal junction (TPJ), left angular gyrus, and right posterior middle temporal gyrus (pMTG), suggesting that incongruityresolution humor involves more theory of mind (ToM), understanding others' intention, and filling the gap. ...
A humor structure comprises two essential stages: the setup and the punch line. The punch line stage is to provide the incongruity resolution that creates amusement in humor. The current article aimed to look into how humor is amusing and how it differs between the sexes. Functional and effective connectivity analyses in cognitive and affective neuroscience have facilitated the implications of humor comprehension, appreciation, and laughter responses. The processing of incongruity-resolution humor revealed effective connectivity from the amygdala to the precuneus (amygdala → precuneus). Conversely, the processing of nonsense humor demonstrated effective connectivity from the amygdala to the inferior frontal gyrus (amygdala → IFG). During humor appreciation, there was effective connectivity from the ventral tegmental area (VTA) to the amygdala (VTA → amygdala) for incongruity resolution humor and nonsense humor. Interestingly, women exhibited greater activation in the mesolimbic reward system than men.
Spontaneous and conversational laughter are important socio-emotional communicative signals. Neuroimaging findings suggest that non-autistic people engage in mentalizing to understand the meaning behind conversational laughter. Autistic people may thus face specific challenges in processing conversational laughter, due to their mentalizing difficulties. Using fMRI, we explored neural differences during implicit processing of these two types of laughter. Autistic and non-autistic adults passively listened to funny words, followed by spontaneous laughter, conversational laughter, or noise-vocoded vocalizations. Behaviourally, words plus spontaneous laughter were rated as funnier than words plus conversational laughter, and the groups did not differ. However, neuroimaging results showed that non-autistic adults exhibited greater medial prefrontal cortex activation while listening to words plus conversational laughter, than words plus genuine laughter, while autistic adults showed no difference in medial prefrontal cortex activity between these two laughter types. Our findings suggest a crucial role for the medial prefrontal cortex in understanding socio-emotionally ambiguous laughter via mentalizing. Our study also highlights the possibility that autistic people may face challenges in understanding the essence of the laughter we frequently encounter in everyday life, especially in processing conversational laughter that carries complex meaning and social ambiguity, potentially leading to social vulnerability. Therefore, we advocate for clearer communication with autistic people.
Humor comprehension (i.e., “getting” a joke) and humor appreciation (i.e., enjoying a joke) are distinct, cognitively complex processes. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) investigations have identified several key cortical regions but have overlooked subcortical structures that have theoretical importance in humor processing. The dorsal striatum (DS) contributes to working memory, ambiguity processing, and cognitive flexibility – cognitive functions that are required to accurately recognize humorous stimuli. The ventral striatum (VS) is critical in reward processing and enjoyment. We hypothesized that the DS and VS play important roles in humor comprehension and appreciation, respectively. We investigated the engagement of these regions in these distinct processes using fMRI. Twenty-six healthy young male and female human adults completed two humor-elicitation tasks during a 3 Tesla fMRI scan: a traditional behavior-based joke task and a naturalistic audio-visual sitcom paradigm (i.e., Seinfeld -viewing task). Across both humor-elicitation methods, whole-brain analyses revealed cortical activation in the inferior frontal gyrus, the middle frontal gyrus, and the middle temporal gyrus for humor comprehension, and the temporal cortex for humor appreciation. Additionally, with region of interest (ROI) analyses, we specifically examined whether DS and VS activation correlated with these processes. Across both tasks, we demonstrated that humor comprehension implicates both the DS and the VS, whereas humor appreciation only engages the VS. These results establish the role of the DS in humor comprehension, which has been previously overlooked, and emphasize the role of the VS in humor processing more generally.
Significance Statement
Humorous stimuli are processed by the brain in at least two distinct stages. First, humor comprehension involves understanding humorous intent through cognitive and problem-solving mechanisms. Second, humor appreciation involves enjoyment, mirth, and laughter in response to a joke. The roles of smaller, subcortical brain regions in humor processing, such as the dorsal striatum (DS) and ventral striatum (VS), have been overlooked in previous investigations. However, these regions are involved in functions that support humor comprehension (e.g., working memory ambiguity resolution, and cognitive flexibility) and humor appreciation (e.g., reward processing, pleasure, and enjoyment). In this study, we used neuroimaging to demonstrate that the DS and VS play important roles in humor comprehension and appreciation, respectively, across two different humor-elicitation tasks.
