What is the difference between irony and sarcasm? An fMRI study

Ruth Filik,Alexandra Ţurcan,Christina Ralph-Nearman,Alain Pitiot

doi:10.1016/j.cortex.2019.01.025

Abstract

Verbal irony is a figure of speech that communicates the opposite of what is said, while sarcasm is a form of irony that is directed at a person, with the intent to criticise. The current study used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) with the aim of mapping the neural networks involved in the processing of sarcastic and non-sarcastic irony. Participants read short texts describing an interaction between two characters, which ended in either a literal, sarcastic, or non-sarcastic ironic comment. Results showed that the mentalising network (mPFC) and semantic network (IFG) were more activated for non-sarcastic irony than for literal controls. This would suggest that interpreting this kind of language involves understanding that the speaker does not mean what they literally say, as well as processes involved in conflict detection and resolution. Sarcastic irony recruited more of the semantic network, as well as areas associated with humour appreciation and subcortical structures, indicating that more complex neural mechanisms underlie the comprehension of sarcastic versus non-sarcastic irony.

Highlights

The conventional view of verbal irony is that it is a figure of speech that communicates the opposite of what is said (Grice, 1975)
In the sarcastic irony condition the third sentence set up a situation (e.g., “Caitlin chose to print hers on pink paper.”) that was designed to lead to the final comment (“Very formal!”) being interpreted as a criticism directed at one of the characters
There were no significant differences in accuracy between conditions (F1 < 1; F2 < 1)

Summary

Introduction

The conventional view of verbal irony is that it is a figure of speech that communicates the opposite of what is said (Grice, 1975). Sarcasm is a form of irony that, as well as communicating the opposite of what is said, is generally directed at a person with the intent to be critical (e.g., Kreuz & Glucksberg, 1989, Matsui et al, 2016; Shamay-Tsoory, Tomer, & Peretz, 2005). An example of sarcasm would be a comment such as “That was clever” being uttered in a context in which the target of the comment has done something stupid. Both sarcastic and non-sarcastic irony involve computation of what the speaker intends to say (which mismatches with context), the comprehension of sarcastic irony may involve an emotional component. The aim of the current paper is to investigate the neural substrates involved in the comprehension of sarcastic and non-sarcastic irony

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Conclusion