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Frau F, Cerami C, Dodich A, Bosia M, Bambini V. Weighing the role of social cognition and executive functioning in pragmatics in the schizophrenia spectrum: A systematic review and meta-analysis. BRAIN AND LANGUAGE 2024; 252:105403. [PMID: 38593743 DOI: 10.1016/j.bandl.2024.105403] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/01/2023] [Revised: 02/06/2024] [Accepted: 03/10/2024] [Indexed: 04/11/2024]
Abstract
Pragmatic impairment is diffused in schizophrenia spectrum disorders, but the literature still debates its neurocognitive underpinnings. This systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to investigate the neurocognitive correlates of pragmatic disorders in schizophrenia and determine the weight of social cognition and executive functioning on such disorders. Of the 2,668 records retrieved from the literature, 16 papers were included in the systematic review, mostly focused on non-literal meanings and discourse production in schizophrenia. Ten studies were included in the meta-analysis: pragmatics was moderately associated with both social cognition and executive functions (especially inhibition), but the link with social cognition was stronger. The mediation analysis showed that social cognition mediated the relationship between executive functions and pragmatics. Based on this, we proposed a hierarchical neurocognitive model where pragmatics stems from social cognition, while executive functions are the fertile ground supporting the other two domains, and we discuss its theoretical and clinical implications.
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Affiliation(s)
- Federico Frau
- Laboratory of Neurolinguistics and Experimental Pragmatics (NEP), Department of Humanities and Life Sciences, University School for Advanced Studies IUSS, Pavia, Italy.
| | - Chiara Cerami
- IUSS Cognitive Neuroscience (ICoN) Center, University School for Advanced Studies IUSS, Pavia, Italy; Dementia Research Center, IRCCS Mondino Foundation, Pavia, Italy
| | - Alessandra Dodich
- Center for Mind/Brain Sciences-CIMeC, University of Trento, Rovereto, Italy
| | - Marta Bosia
- School of Medicine, Vita-Salute San Raffaele University, Milan, Italy; Schizophrenia Research and Clinical Unit, IRCCS San Raffaele Hospital, Milan, Italy
| | - Valentina Bambini
- Laboratory of Neurolinguistics and Experimental Pragmatics (NEP), Department of Humanities and Life Sciences, University School for Advanced Studies IUSS, Pavia, Italy
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Baraldi MA, Domaneschi F. Pragmatic Skills in Late Adulthood. JOURNAL OF PSYCHOLINGUISTIC RESEARCH 2024; 53:20. [PMID: 38424410 DOI: 10.1007/s10936-024-10061-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 02/08/2024] [Indexed: 03/02/2024]
Abstract
Research investigating pragmatic abilities in healthy aging suggests that both production and comprehension might be compromised; however, it is not clear how pragmatic abilities evolve in late adulthood, as well as when difficulties are more likely to arise. The aim of this study is to investigate the decline of pragmatic skills in aging, and to explore what cognitive and demographic factors support pragmatic competence. We assessed pragmatic production skills, including discourse abilities such as speech, informativeness, information flow, paralinguistic aspects, as well as the ability to produce informative descriptions of pictures, and pragmatic comprehension skills, which encompassed the ability to understand discourse and the main aspects of a narrative text, to infer non-literal meanings and to comprehend verbal humor in a group of elderly individuals and in a sample of younger participants. Moreover, specific cognitive functions (short-term memory, verbal and visuospatial working memory, inhibition Theory of Mind, and Cognitive Reserve) were assessed in both groups. Pragmatic difficulties seem to occur in late adulthood, likely around 70 years, and emerge more prominently when participants are asked to understand verbal humor. Age was the only predictor of general pragmatic performance in a sample of cognitively unimpaired older adults; conversely, when elderly individuals with less intact inhibitory control are considered, a general role of inhibition emerged, in addition to working memory and ToM in specific tasks.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maria Alice Baraldi
- Laboratory of Language and Cognition, Department of Humanities, University of Genoa, Via Balbi 2, 16126, Genoa, Italy.
- Department of Educational Sciences, Psychology Unit, University of Genoa, Corso Podestà 2, 16128, Genoa, Italy.
| | - Filippo Domaneschi
- Laboratory of Language and Cognition, Department of Humanities, University of Genoa, Via Balbi 2, 16126, Genoa, Italy
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Tsolakopoulos D, Kasselimis D, Laskaris N, Angelopoulou G, Papageorgiou G, Velonakis G, Varkanitsa M, Tountopoulou A, Vassilopoulou S, Goutsos D, Potagas C. Exploring Pragmatic Deficits in Relation to Theory of Mind and Executive Functions: Evidence from Individuals with Right Hemisphere Stroke. Brain Sci 2023; 13:1385. [PMID: 37891754 PMCID: PMC10605575 DOI: 10.3390/brainsci13101385] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/18/2023] [Revised: 09/18/2023] [Accepted: 09/22/2023] [Indexed: 10/29/2023] Open
Abstract
Research investigating pragmatic deficits in individuals with right hemisphere damage focuses on identifying the potential mechanisms responsible for the nature of these impairments. Nonetheless, the presumed shared cognitive mechanisms that could account for these deficits have not yet been established through data-based evidence from lesion studies. This study aimed to examine the co-occurrence of pragmatic language deficits, Theory of Mind impairments, and executive functions while also exploring their associations with brain lesion sites. Twenty-five patients suffering from unilateral right hemisphere stroke and thirty-seven healthy participants were recruited for this study. The two groups were tested in pragmatics, Theory of Mind, and executive function tasks. Structural imaging data were also obtained for the identification of the lesion sites. The findings of this study suggest a potential convergence among the three aforementioned cognitive mechanisms. Moreover, we postulate a hypothesis for a neural circuitry for communication impairments observed in individuals with right hemisphere damage.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dimitrios Tsolakopoulos
- Neuropsychology and Language Disorders Unit, 1st Department of Neurology, Eginition Hospital, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, 72-74 Vas. Sofias Av., 11528 Athens, Greece
| | - Dimitrios Kasselimis
- Neuropsychology and Language Disorders Unit, 1st Department of Neurology, Eginition Hospital, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, 72-74 Vas. Sofias Av., 11528 Athens, Greece
- Department of Psychology, Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences, 17671 Athens, Greece
| | - Nikolaos Laskaris
- Neuropsychology and Language Disorders Unit, 1st Department of Neurology, Eginition Hospital, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, 72-74 Vas. Sofias Av., 11528 Athens, Greece
- Department of Industrial Design and Production Engineering, School of Engineering, University of West Attica, 12243 Athens, Greece
| | - Georgia Angelopoulou
- Neuropsychology and Language Disorders Unit, 1st Department of Neurology, Eginition Hospital, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, 72-74 Vas. Sofias Av., 11528 Athens, Greece
| | - Georgios Papageorgiou
- Neuropsychology and Language Disorders Unit, 1st Department of Neurology, Eginition Hospital, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, 72-74 Vas. Sofias Av., 11528 Athens, Greece
| | - Georgios Velonakis
- Second Department of Radiology, Attikon General University Hospital, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, 15772 Athens, Greece
| | - Maria Varkanitsa
- Center for Brain Recovery, Sargent College of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, Boston University, Boston, MA 02215, USA
| | - Argyro Tountopoulou
- Stroke Unit, 1st Department of Neurology, Eginition Hospital, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, 15772 Athens, Greece
| | - Sofia Vassilopoulou
- Stroke Unit, 1st Department of Neurology, Eginition Hospital, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, 15772 Athens, Greece
| | - Dionysis Goutsos
- Department of Linguistics, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, 15772 Athens, Greece
| | - Constantin Potagas
- Neuropsychology and Language Disorders Unit, 1st Department of Neurology, Eginition Hospital, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, 72-74 Vas. Sofias Av., 11528 Athens, Greece
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Skórka P, Grzywacz B, Moroń D, Lenda M. COVID-19 in Memes: The Adaptive Response of Societies to the Pandemic? INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH AND PUBLIC HEALTH 2022; 19:12969. [PMID: 36232263 PMCID: PMC9566158 DOI: 10.3390/ijerph191912969] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/13/2022] [Revised: 10/06/2022] [Accepted: 10/07/2022] [Indexed: 06/16/2023]
Abstract
COVID-19 expanded rapidly throughout the world, with enormous health, social, and economic consequences. Mental health is the most affected by extreme negative emotions and stress, but it has been an underestimated part of human life during the pandemic. We hypothesized that people may have responded to the pandemic spontaneously with increased interest in and creation of funny internet memes. Using Google and Google Trends, we revealed that the number of and interest in funny internet memes related to COVID-19 exploded during the spring 2020 lockdown. The interest in coronavirus memes was positively correlated with interest in mortality due to COVID-19 on a global scale, and positively associated with the real number of deaths and cases reported in different countries. We compared content of a random sample of 200 coronavirus memes with a random sample of 200 non-coronavirus memes found on the Internet. The sentiment analysis showed that coronavirus memes had a similar proportion of positive and negative words compared to non-coronavirus memes. However, an internet questionnaire revealed that coronavirus memes gained higher funniness scores than a random sample of non-coronavirus memes. Our results confirm that societies may have turned to humor to cope with the threat of SARS-CoV-2.
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Affiliation(s)
- Piotr Skórka
- Institute of Nature Conservation, Polish Academy of Sciences, 31-120 Kraków, Poland
| | - Beata Grzywacz
- Institute of Systematics and Evolution of Animals, Polish Academy of Sciences, 31-016 Kraków, Poland
| | - Dawid Moroń
- Institute of Systematics and Evolution of Animals, Polish Academy of Sciences, 31-016 Kraków, Poland
| | - Magdalena Lenda
- Institute of Nature Conservation, Polish Academy of Sciences, 31-120 Kraków, Poland
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Hilviu D, Gabbatore I, Parola A, Bosco FM. A cross-sectional study to assess pragmatic strengths and weaknesses in healthy ageing. BMC Geriatr 2022; 22:699. [PMID: 35999510 PMCID: PMC9400309 DOI: 10.1186/s12877-022-03304-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/04/2021] [Accepted: 07/15/2022] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Background Ageing refers to the natural and physiological changes that individuals experience over the years. This process also involves modifications in terms of communicative-pragmatics, namely the ability to convey meanings in social contexts and to interact with other people using various expressive means, such as linguistic, extralinguistic and paralinguistic aspects of communication. Very few studies have provided a complete assessment of communicative-pragmatic performance in healthy ageing. Methods The aim of this study was to comprehensively assess communicative-pragmatic ability in three samples of 20 (N = 60) healthy adults, each belonging to a different age range (20–40, 65–75, 76–86 years old) and to compare their performance in order to observe any potential changes in their ability to communicate. We also explored the potential role of education and sex on the communicative-pragmatic abilities observed. The three age groups were evaluated with a between-study design by means of the Assessment Battery for Communication (ABaCo), a validated assessment tool characterised by five scales: linguistic, extralinguistic, paralinguistic, contextual and conversational. Results The results indicated that the pragmatic ability assessed by the ABaCo is poorer in older participants when compared to the younger ones (main effect of age group: F(2,56) = 9.097; p < .001). Specifically, significant differences were detected in tasks on the extralinguistic, paralinguistic and contextual scales. Whereas the data highlighted a significant role of education (F(1,56) = 4.713; p = .034), no sex-related differences were detected. Conclusions Our results suggest that the ageing process may also affect communicative-pragmatic ability and a comprehensive assessment of the components of such ability may help to better identify difficulties often experienced by older individuals in their daily life activities. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12877-022-03304-z.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dize Hilviu
- GIPSI Research Group, Department of Psychology, University of Turin, Turin, Italy
| | - Ilaria Gabbatore
- GIPSI Research Group, Department of Psychology, University of Turin, Turin, Italy. .,Research Unit of Logopedics, Faculty of Humanities, University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland.
| | - Alberto Parola
- GIPSI Research Group, Department of Psychology, University of Turin, Turin, Italy.,Department of Linguistics, Cognitive Science and Semiotics, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark
| | - Francesca M Bosco
- GIPSI Research Group, Department of Psychology, University of Turin, Turin, Italy.,Neuroscience Institute of Turin - NIT, University of Turin, Turin, Italy
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Paunov AM, Blank IA, Jouravlev O, Mineroff Z, Gallée J, Fedorenko E. Differential Tracking of Linguistic vs. Mental State Content in Naturalistic Stimuli by Language and Theory of Mind (ToM) Brain Networks. NEUROBIOLOGY OF LANGUAGE (CAMBRIDGE, MASS.) 2022; 3:413-440. [PMID: 37216061 PMCID: PMC10158571 DOI: 10.1162/nol_a_00071] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/26/2021] [Accepted: 04/11/2022] [Indexed: 05/24/2023]
Abstract
Language and social cognition, especially the ability to reason about mental states, known as theory of mind (ToM), are deeply related in development and everyday use. However, whether these cognitive faculties rely on distinct, overlapping, or the same mechanisms remains debated. Some evidence suggests that, by adulthood, language and ToM draw on largely distinct-though plausibly interacting-cortical networks. However, the broad topography of these networks is similar, and some have emphasized the importance of social content / communicative intent in the linguistic signal for eliciting responses in the language areas. Here, we combine the power of individual-subject functional localization with the naturalistic-cognition inter-subject correlation approach to illuminate the language-ToM relationship. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), we recorded neural activity as participants (n = 43) listened to stories and dialogues with mental state content (+linguistic, +ToM), viewed silent animations and live action films with mental state content but no language (-linguistic, +ToM), or listened to an expository text (+linguistic, -ToM). The ToM network robustly tracked stimuli rich in mental state information regardless of whether mental states were conveyed linguistically or non-linguistically, while tracking a +linguistic / -ToM stimulus only weakly. In contrast, the language network tracked linguistic stimuli more strongly than (a) non-linguistic stimuli, and than (b) the ToM network, and showed reliable tracking even for the linguistic condition devoid of mental state content. These findings suggest that in spite of their indisputably close links, language and ToM dissociate robustly in their neural substrates-and thus plausibly cognitive mechanisms-including during the processing of rich naturalistic materials.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alexander M. Paunov
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, MIT, Cambridge, USA
- Cognitive Neuroimaging Unit, INSERM, CEA, CNRS, Université Paris-Saclay, NeuroSpin Center, 91191Gif/Yvette, France
| | - Idan A. Blank
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, MIT, Cambridge, USA
- Department of Psychology, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Olessia Jouravlev
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, MIT, Cambridge, USA
- McGovern Institute for Brain Research, MIT, Cambridge, MA, USA
- Institute for Cognitive Science, Carleton University, Ottawa, ON, Canada
| | - Zachary Mineroff
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, MIT, Cambridge, USA
- McGovern Institute for Brain Research, MIT, Cambridge, MA, USA
- Eberly Center for Teaching Excellence & Educational Innovation, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, USA
| | - Jeanne Gallée
- Program in Speech and Hearing Bioscience and Technology, Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Evelina Fedorenko
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, MIT, Cambridge, USA
- McGovern Institute for Brain Research, MIT, Cambridge, MA, USA
- Program in Speech and Hearing Bioscience and Technology, Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA
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Bambini V, Van Looy L, Demiddele K, Schaeken W. What is the contribution of executive functions to communicative-pragmatic skills? Insights from aging and different types of pragmatic inference. Cogn Process 2021; 22:435-452. [PMID: 33786706 DOI: 10.1007/s10339-021-01021-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/08/2020] [Accepted: 02/20/2021] [Indexed: 02/07/2023]
Abstract
The role of executive functions in supporting the pragmatics of communication has been extensively examined in clinical populations, but is still under-explored in healthy aging. In this study we addressed the role of executive skills, including inhibition, working memory, and cognitive flexibility, in older adults' communicative-pragmatic abilities. Pragmatics was extensively assessed by measuring the understanding of figurative language, narrative texts, humor, and implicatures. A hierarchical regression analysis using composite scores evidenced a global effect of executive functions on communicative-pragmatic abilities, beyond demographic and theory of mind aspects. More fine-grained analyses showed that working memory was the strongest predictor of all pragmatic tasks. Specifically, comprehending narratives and humor seemed to capitalize primarily upon working memory, whereas figurative language and implicatures relied on working memory and to some extent cognitive flexibility. Conversely, inhibition did not stand out as a robust predictor of pragmatics. We argue that working memory allows for the simultaneous consideration of multiple pieces of information needed for pragmatic inferencing, and that only once working memory has played its role other executive aspects, such as cognitive flexibility and inhibition, might come into play. Overall, this study highlights the diverse role of executive skills in pragmatics in aging, and more generally contributes to shed light on pragmatic competence in older adults.
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Affiliation(s)
- Valentina Bambini
- Center for Neurocognition, Epistemology and Theoretical Syntax (NEtS), University School for Advanced Studies IUSS Pavia, Piazza della Vittoria 15, 27100, Pavia, Italy.
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Cognitive dysfunction in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis: can we predict it? Neurol Sci 2021; 42:2211-2222. [PMID: 33772353 PMCID: PMC8159827 DOI: 10.1007/s10072-021-05188-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/21/2020] [Accepted: 03/15/2021] [Indexed: 01/26/2023]
Abstract
Background and aim Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder characterized by the degeneration of both upper and lower motoneurons in the brain and spinal cord leading to motor and extra-motor symptoms. Although traditionally considered a pure motor disease, recent evidences suggest that ALS is a multisystem disorder. Neuropsychological alterations, in fact, are observed in more than 50% of patients: while executive dysfunctions have been firstly identified, alterations in verbal fluency, behavior, and pragmatic and social cognition have also been described. Detecting and monitoring ALS cognitive and behavioral impairment even at early disease stages is likely to have staging and prognostic implications, and it may impact the enrollment in future clinical trials. During the last 10 years, humoral, radiological, neurophysiological, and genetic biomarkers have been reported in ALS, and some of them seem to potentially correlate to cognitive and behavioral impairment of patients. In this review, we sought to give an up-to-date state of the art of neuropsychological alterations in ALS: we will describe tests used to detect cognitive and behavioral impairment, and we will focus on promising non-invasive biomarkers to detect pre-clinical cognitive decline. Conclusions To date, the research on humoral, radiological, neurophysiological, and genetic correlates of neuropsychological alterations is at the early stage, and no conclusive longitudinal data have been published. Further and longitudinal studies on easily accessible and quantifiable biomarkers are needed to clarify the time course and the evolution of cognitive and behavioral impairments of ALS patients.
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Del Sette P, Bambini V, Bischetti L, Lecce S. Longitudinal associations between theory of mind and metaphor understanding during middle childhood. COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT 2020. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cogdev.2020.100958] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
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10
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Perchtold-Stefan CM, Papousek I, Rominger C, Schertler M, Weiss EM, Fink A. Humor comprehension and creative cognition: Shared and distinct neurocognitive mechanisms as indicated by EEG alpha activity. Neuroimage 2020; 213:116695. [PMID: 32142882 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2020.116695] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/20/2019] [Revised: 01/20/2020] [Accepted: 02/27/2020] [Indexed: 02/08/2023] Open
Abstract
Humor comprehension is increasingly recognized as showing parallels to more conventional creative cognition; yet our understanding of brain mechanisms underlying creative cognition in a humorous context is still limited. The present study addressed this issue by investigating functional patterns of EEG alpha activity while 93 participants viewed nonverbal humorous cartoons until they indicated having recognized the punch line, and subsequently vocalized their idea as to what constituted it. In a similar fashion, EEG was also assessed during performance of the Alternate Uses Task (AUT), in order to identify similarities and differences in EEG alpha activity implicated in conventional creative cognition vs. humor comprehension. Analyses revealed a pattern of robust task-related alpha power increases in both tasks, which were markedly more right-lateralized at ventral fronto-temporal sites in the humor task as compared to the AUT. Findings are interpreted in line with recent literature on the functional role of alpha activity in the creativity domain. Altogether, this study adds further evidence to the particular role of EEG alpha oscillations in creative cognition and supports the idea that conventional creative ideation and the comprehension of humor share neural mechanisms affiliated to creative cognition.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Ilona Papousek
- Department of Psychology, University of Graz, Graz, Austria
| | | | | | | | - Andreas Fink
- Department of Psychology, University of Graz, Graz, Austria.
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Manfredi M, Proverbio AM, Sanchez Mello de Pinho P, Ribeiro B, Comfort WE, Murrins Marques L, Boggio PS. Electrophysiological indexes of ToM and non-ToM humor in healthy adults. Exp Brain Res 2020; 238:789-805. [PMID: 32107576 DOI: 10.1007/s00221-020-05753-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/23/2019] [Accepted: 02/12/2020] [Indexed: 02/03/2023]
Abstract
The cognitive processes involved in humor comprehension were analyzed by directly comparing the time course of brain activity associated with the perception of slapstick humor and that associated with the comprehension of humor requiring theory of mind (ToM). Four different comic strips (strips containing humorous scenes that required ToM, non-ToM humorous strips, non-humorous semantically coherent strips and non-humorous semantically incoherent strips) were presented to participants, while their EEG response was recorded. Results showed that both of the humorous comic strips and the semantically incongruent strip elicited an N400 effect, suggesting similar cognitive mechanisms underlying the processing of incongruent and humorous comic strips. The results also showed that the humorous ToM strips elicited a frontal late positive (LP) response, possibly reflecting the active deployment of ToM abilities such as perspective-taking and empathy that allow for the resolution and interpretation of apparently incongruent situations. In addition, the LP response was positively correlated with ratings of perceived amusement as well as individual empathy scores, suggesting that the increased LP response to ToM humorous strips reflects the combined activation of neural mechanisms involved in the experience of amusement and ToM abilities. Overall, humor comprehension appears to demand distinct cognitive steps such as the detection of incongruent semantic components, the construction of semantic coherence, and the appreciation of humoristic elements such as maladaptive emotional reactions. Our results show that the deployment of these distinct cognitive steps is at least partially dependent on individual empathic abilities.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mirella Manfredi
- Social and Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, Center for Health and Biological Sciences, Mackenzie Presbyterian University, São Paulo, SP, Brazil. .,Developmental Psychology: Infancy and Childhood, University of Zurich, Binzmuehlestrasse 14, 8050, Zurich, Switzerland.
| | | | - Pamella Sanchez Mello de Pinho
- Social and Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, Center for Health and Biological Sciences, Mackenzie Presbyterian University, São Paulo, SP, Brazil
| | - Beatriz Ribeiro
- Social and Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, Center for Health and Biological Sciences, Mackenzie Presbyterian University, São Paulo, SP, Brazil
| | - William Edgar Comfort
- Social and Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, Center for Health and Biological Sciences, Mackenzie Presbyterian University, São Paulo, SP, Brazil
| | - Lucas Murrins Marques
- Social and Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, Center for Health and Biological Sciences, Mackenzie Presbyterian University, São Paulo, SP, Brazil
| | - Paulo Sérgio Boggio
- Social and Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, Center for Health and Biological Sciences, Mackenzie Presbyterian University, São Paulo, SP, Brazil
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