Incongruity Resolution Research Articles

The Influence of Creativity on Incongruity-Resolution and Nonsense Humor Comprehension

Both creativity and humor are high-level cognitive functions and complex concepts. Although creativity and humor are generally deemed positively correlated, it has been difficult to explicitly identify their relationship with each other. The cognitive process of creativity includes divergent thinking, insight, and remote association, whereas humor comprehension includes incongruity resolution and nonsense humor. The difference between the 2 types of humor is in whether individuals can understand the content of jokes through logical deduction. This study explored the relationship of the different dimensions of cognitive creativity and incongruity-resolution and nonsense humor comprehension. Furthermore, we examined the influence of divergent thinking, insight, and remote association on incongruity-resolution and nonsense humor comprehension. The scores from 103 participants on a divergent thinking questionnaire, an insight problem-solving task, and the Chinese compound remote associate problems test were used to analyze their comprehension of incongruity resolution and nonsense humor. The results showed a positive correlation between remote association and incongruity-resolution humor comprehension, as well as a positive correlation between insight and nonsense humor comprehension. These findings indicate that each dimension of cognitive creativity has a particular way of connecting to various types of humor comprehension.

The development of the Humor Structure Appreciation Scale and its relation to Sensation Seeking Inventory and Need for Closure Scale

Three related studies are presented with the aim of investigating the individual differences in humour appreciation, sensation seeking and need for closure. In order to accomplish this, the construction and initial validation of a new instrument will be presented. The Humour Structure Appreciation Scale (HSAS) distinguishes between incongruity-resolution (INC-RES), and nonsense (NON) humour. The first study analyses the content validity of a broad item pool. The second study focused on the metric properties of the selected items. In the third study, the remaining jokes were given to a quota sample from Macedonia, along with measures of sensation seeking (Arnett Inventory of Sensation Seeking) and need for closure (Need for Closure Scale). Psychometric properties of the scales were investigated and showed to be satisfactory. Intercorrelations among the scales provide evidence for the construct validity of the HSAS.

The relationship between English proficiency and humour appreciation among English L1 users and Chinese L2 users of English

AbstractHumour appreciation involves split second detection and resolution of cultural and pragmatic incongruities. Second language (L2) users may need more time and effort to understand and appreciate L2 humour. Previous studies have mostly used decontextualized verbal jokes and reported a linear relationship between L2 proficiency and humour appreciation. The present study strives for more ecological validity by using audiovisual-based, multimodal humorous stimuli. A total of 272 Chinese L2 users of English and 94 English L1 users rated the funniness and the ease of understanding of two short video extracts and then completed an English vocabulary size test, LexTALE. The findings suggest that L2 users need to reach a certain threshold in L2 linguistic, pragmatic and sociocultural knowledge before a positive linear relationship emerges between proficiency and appreciation of multimodal humorous stimuli. Also, advanced L2 users demonstrated similarities with English L1 users in humour processing.

Humorous TV ads and the 3WD: Evidence for generalizability of humour appreciation across media?

Individuals differ in their appreciation of jokes and cartoons with respect to the structure of the humorous material (e.g., whether the jokes and cartoons are can be categorised in terms of incongruity-resolution or in terms of nonsense), as well as content (e.g., whether they contain sexual themes or not). While the 3WD (3 jokes dimensions) test allows for the measurement of such differences in a paper-pencil test of verbal jokes and visual cartoons, humour transported by other media, such as TV advertisements, has not been included so far. The current study aimed at assessing the appreciation of jokes and cartoons alongside the appreciation of humorous TV ads that were pre-categorized according to the structure and content factors of the 3WD. Moreover, relationships to personality and willingness to buy were also assessed. A sample of 134 adult participants completed the study. A joint factor analysis of the 3WD scores and humour appreciation in TV ads shows a five-factor structure, with three factors denominating the appreciation of incongruity-resolution humour, nonsense humour and sexual humour, a fourth factor denominating the liking of incongruity resolution humour with sexual themes (in both ads and jokes) and an advertisement specific factor. Thus, the 3WD dimensions can also be verified in humorous ads. Psychoticism and sensation seeking correlated negatively with the perceived funniness of incongruity resolution humour, replicating findings for the 3WD and additionally showing that the relationships are similar with respect to humour appreciation in TV advertisements. Moreover, the appreciation of humour predicted the willingness of the individual to buy the product or use the service. To conclude, the structure of humour appreciation is generalizable across media. Yet, there is also some advertisement specific variance and future studies may address the question of whether the 3WD covers all aspects of humour appreciation across media types. Moreover, knowing the target group of a product (and personality features of this group) may help to tailor the humour of the advertisement to match the “humour taste” of potential customers.

Sex differences in humor processing: An event-related potential study

Numerous behavioral studies and a handful of functional neuroimaging studies have reported sex differences in humor. However, no study to date has examined differences in the time-course of brain activity during multistage humor processing between the sexes. The purpose of this study was to compare real-time dynamics related to humor processing between women and men, with reference to a proposed three-stage model (involving incongruity detection, incongruity resolution, and elaboration stages). Forty undergraduate students (20 women) underwent event-related potential recording while subjectively rating 30 question-answer-type jokes and 30 question-answer-type statements in a random order. Sex differences were revealed by analyses of the mean amplitudes of difference waves during a specific time window between 1000 and 1300 ms poststimulus onset (P1000–1300). This indicates that women recruited more mental resources to integrate cognitive and emotional components at this late stage. In contrast, men recruited more automated processes during the transition from the cognitive operations of the incongruity resolution stage to the emotional response of the humor elaboration stage. Our results suggest that sex differences in humor processing lie in differences in the integration of cognitive and emotional components, which are closely linked and interact reciprocally, particularly in women.

Getting the Joke: Insight during Humor Comprehension - Evidence from an fMRI Study.

As a high-level cognitive activity, humor comprehension requires incongruity detection and incongruity resolution, which then elicits an insight moment. The purpose of the study was to explore the neural basis of humor comprehension, particularly the moment of insight, by using both characters and language-free cartoons in a functional magnetic resonance imaging study. The results showed that insight involving jokes elicited greater activation in language and semantic-related brain regions as well as a variety of additional regions, such as the superior frontal gyrus (SFG), the inferior frontal gyrus (IFG), the middle temporal gyrus (MTG), the superior temporal gyrus (STG), the temporoparietal junctions (TPJ), the hippocampus and visual areas. These findings indicate that the MTG might play a role in incongruity detection, while the SFG, IFG and the TPJ might be involved in incongruity detection. The passive insight event elicited by jokes appears to be mediated by a limited number of brain areas. Our study showed that the brain regions associated with humor comprehension were not affected by the type of stimuli and that humor and insight shared common brain areas. These results indicate that one experiences a feeling of insight during humor comprehension, which contributes to the understanding of humor comprehension.

The role of the amygdala in incongruity resolution: the case of humor comprehension

ABSTRACTA dominant theory of humor comprehension suggests that people understand humor by first perceiving some incongruity in an expression and then resolving it. This is called “the incongruity-resolution theory.” Experimental studies have investigated the neural basis of humor comprehension, and multiple neural substrates have been proposed; however, the specific substrate for incongruity resolution is still unknown. The reason may be that the resolution phase, despite its importance in humor comprehension, has not been successfully distinguished from the perception phase because both phases occur almost simultaneously. To reveal the substrate, we conducted a functional magnetic resonance study using 51 healthy participants. We used a humor-producing frame of “Given A, I’d say B, because C” so as to focus on the resolution phase independently by suspending humor processing just after the perception phase. This frame allowed us to separate the two phases. Based on our results, incongruity resolution evoked positive emotion and activated the left amygdala, which is known to be related to positive emotion. On the basis of these findings, we argue that the amygdala plays an important role in humor comprehension, considering its functional role in emotional evaluation, particularly the relevance detection for incoming stimuli.

Humor appreciation in the digital era

This research compares audience ranking of popular Internet jokes and the mechanisms of humor underlying their successfulness. It explores the audience's point of view, in order to shed light on a possible correlation between high rankings and specific mechanisms, as well as different preferences of specific languages. Jokes were chosen as the research object, since they are considered to be “prototypical members of humorous discourse” (Tsakona, 2007:35).The study is based on the pragmatic analysis of 540 occurrences in context, presenting examples in three languages – English, Spanish and Hebrew – extracted from nine popular sites (540 jokes in total). The findings indicate that Internet jokes have some common traits. However, comparison according to popularity ranking has revealed differences in the existence of a clash between human's physical and moral nature (Bergson, 1911), and the use of incongruity resolution mechanisms (Dynel, 2012): popular jokes relied more on the garden-path mechanism and less on the red-lights, while with regard to non-popular jokes, the opposite occurred.Differences were also revealed in the choice of the “butt” of the joke, and in the comparison of the three linguistic cultures: jokes in Hebrew targeted women and minorities to a greater extent; while in English jokes were more prone to target men and refer to sexual relations. In comparison, a preference of verbal humor, as opposed to superiority humor, was noticeable in Spanish, along with the extensive usage of the riddle narrative strategy and the crossroads mechanism.

To Resolve or Not To Resolve, that Is the Question: The Dual-Path Model of Incongruity Resolution and Absurd Verbal Humor by fMRI.

It is well accepted that the humor comprehension processing involves incongruity detection and resolution and then induces a feeling of amusement. However, this three-stage model of humor processing does not apply to absurd humor (so-called nonsense humor). Absurd humor contains an unresolvable incongruity but can still induce a feeling of mirth. In this study, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to identify the neural mechanisms of absurd humor. Specifically, we aimed to investigate the neural substrates associated with the complete resolution of incongruity resolution humor and partial resolution of absurd humor. Based on the fMRI data, we propose a dual-path model of incongruity resolution and absurd verbal humor. According to this model, the detection and resolution for the incongruity of incongruity resolution humor activate brain regions involved in the temporo-parietal lobe (TPJ) implicated in the integration of multiple information and precuneus, likely to be involved in the ability of perspective taking. The appreciation of incongruity resolution humor activates regions the posterior cingulate cortex (PCC), implicated in autobiographic or event memory retrieval, and parahippocampal gyrus (PHG), implying the funny feeling. By contrast, the partial resolution of absurd humor elicits greater activation in the fusiform gyrus which have been implicated in word processing, inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) for the process of incongruity resolution and superior temporal gyrus (STG) for the pragmatic awareness.

Influence of media context on humorous advertising effectiveness

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to study the impact of three dimensions of media context – program type, break type, and pod position – on two types of humorous advertisements: incongruity resolution (IR) and arousal safety (AS). The study aims to demonstrate that different humor types are evaluated differently under similar media context elements and a particular humorous advertisement can be evaluated differently under different elements of media context.Design/methodology/approachThe hypotheses were tested through two experiments which were planned and conducted as “between-subjects” design. The analysis of collected data were done through ANOVA using IBM SPSS 22.FindingsThe results indicated that the adverse impact of negative mood (vs positive mood) was greater on IR advertisements as compared to AS advertisements. Similarly, the negative impact of an abrupt break (vs smooth break) was greater on IR advertisements. However, both humor types were effective when placed in positive mood programs and smooth breaks.Practical implicationsThe findings suggest that campaign and media planners need to consider the media context as well as humor types to get better return on their adspend. Results of this study can also be applicable for online medium.Originality/valueThis is the first study to test the impact of three dimensions of media context on two types of humorous advertisements.

Too Good To Be True? Effect of Consumers’ Brand Schemas on Apparel Brands’ Fair Labor Marketing Messages

In this study, researchers provide a comprehensive model of how consumers process, remember, and evaluate positive fair labor-related brand messages that are congruent/incongruent to their existing brand expectations using both psychophysiological and self-reported measures. Data were collected across two different studies. Results indicated that consumers paid more attention to and better remembered messages for incongruity than congruity. Also attitude toward message was highest for congruent messages, followed by incongruity resolution and lowest for incongruity nonresolution. The combined study findings bridge the gap in literature between human attitude and cognition, helping both brands and consumer researchers understand consumers’ reaction to brands schema-message congruity/incongruity and guide decisions when brands hope to revitalize or reinvent a brand’s image.

Influence of consumers’ brand expectations on apparel brands’ US-based sourcing strategy

PurposeThis study aims to understand how consumers evaluate Made in USA messages that are congruent/incongruent to consumers’ prior expectations about the brand’s US-based sourcing initiatives.Design/methodology/approachTwo separate studies were conducted. Online experiment was designed implementing both message and treatment variance to increase internal and external validity of the study. Data collected from two distinct samples were analyzed using MANOVA and ANOVA.FindingsFindings from Study 1 indicated that consumers’ perceived message credibility, attitude toward message and attitude toward brand were highest for congruent messages, followed by when incongruity was resolved and lowest when incongruity was not resolved. Further, consumers’ brand attitudes before and after message exposure were different, with change being most positive for incongruity resolution, followed by congruity, whereas negative for incongruity non-resolution. Findings from Study 2 indicated that consumers’ general attitude toward brands’ US-based sourcing strategies influenced their brand attitude, as well as moderated the relation between schema congruity/incongruity resolution/incongruity non-resolution and brand attitude.Originality/valueThe findings are helpful for brand managers and sourcing personnel to better invest their resources in US-based sourcing strategies. In addition, the findings of the study contribute and extend theory by identifying a boundary condition.

Neural circuit of verbal humor comprehension in schizophrenia - an fMRI study.

Individuals with schizophrenia exhibit problems with understanding the figurative meaning of language. This study evaluates neural correlates of diminished humor comprehension observed in schizophrenia. The study included chronic schizophrenia (SCH) outpatients (n = 20), and sex, age and education level matched healthy controls (n = 20). The fMRI punchline based humor comprehension task consisted of 60 stories of which 20 had funny, 20 nonsensical and 20 neutral (not funny) punchlines. After the punchlines were presented, the participants were asked to indicate whether the story was comprehensible and how funny it was. Three contrasts were analyzed in both groups reflecting stages of humor processing: abstract vs neutral stories - incongruity detection; funny vs abstract - incongruity resolution and elaboration; and funny vs neutral – complete humor processing. Additionally, parametric modulation analysis was performed using both subjective ratings separately. Between-group comparisons revealed that the SCH subjects had attenuated activation in the right posterior superior temporal gyrus (BA 41) in case of irresolvable incongruity processing of nonsensical puns; in the left dorsomedial middle and superior frontal gyri (BA 8/9) in case of incongruity resolution and elaboration processing of funny puns; and in the interhemispheric dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (BA 24) in case of complete processing of funny puns. Additionally, during comprehensibility ratings the SCH group showed a suppressed activity in the left dorsomedial middle and superior frontal gyri (BA 8/9) and revealed weaker activation during funniness ratings in the left dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (BA 24). Interestingly, these differences in the SCH group were accompanied behaviorally by a protraction of time in both types of rating responses and by indicating funny punchlines less comprehensible. Summarizing, our results indicate neural substrates of humor comprehension processing impairments in schizophrenia, which is accompanied by fronto-temporal hypoactivation.

Time course and localization of brain activity in humor comprehension: An ERP/sLORETA study

Although a number of studies have investigated the incongruity-detection and resolution process in humor comprehension, it is difficult to functionally and anatomically dissociate these processes. We used event-related potentials (ERP) and standardized low resolution brain electromagnetic tomography analysis (sLORETA) to examine the time course and localization of brain activity during incongruity detection and resolution. We used the same materials as in our previous fMRI study. Eighteen participants read funny and unfunny scenarios and judged whether the target sentence was funny or not. Results indicated that ERPs elicited by a funny punch line showed a P2 component followed by a P600 component over the centro-parietal electrode sites. Our sLORETA analysis of the P2 ERPs revealed a stronger activation for the funny vs. unfunny condition in the superior frontal gyrus (SFG) and medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC). For the P600 ERPs, the funny punch line elicited greater activation in the temporal-parietal regions. These results indicate that incongruity-detection processes activate the SFG and mPFC in the P2 time window, while incongruity-resolution processes generate activation at the temporal-parietal regions in the P600 time window. These results provide the evidence that verbal humor comprehension is processed in steps which start with the incongruity detection in the early P2 time window and followed by a P600 component reflecting incongruity resolution.

A re-visit of three-stage humor processing with readers' surprise, comprehension, and funniness ratings: An ERP study

Abstract Humor processing can be divided into three sub-stages including incongruity detection, incongruity resolution, and elaboration ( Chan et al., 2012 , Chan et al., 2013 , Feng et al., 2014 ). However, few studies have investigated the three-stage model of humor processing with readers' surprise, comprehensibility and funniness levels, and little discussion has been devoted to its biological underpinning. To verify the credibility of the three-stage model, electroencephalography (EEG) was utilized in corroboration with two types of stimuli including jokes and non-jokes in the present research. Participants were categorized into high vs. low score groups based on their rating scores of surprise, comprehension, and funniness to joke stimuli. The between-group analyses showed that compared with the less surprised group, highly surprised people elicited a primarily larger N400, which may suggest more incongruity perceived in reading jokes. Additionally, good comprehenders mainly elicited a larger P600, probably indicating a more successful resolution of detected incongruity in comparison with poor comprehenders. Finally, the highly amused group elicited a larger late positive potential (LPP) compared with the less amused group, which could reflect more affective elaboration of jokes. Participants' surprise, comprehension, and funniness levels had smaller impacts on other chief electrophysiological components, with the effects varying with different group contrasts. These results provided the evidence that different degrees of surprise, comprehensibility, and amusement to jokes would influence the three sub-stages (incongruity detection, incongruity resolution, and elaboration) respectively in humor processing. The current study thus generally re-verified the stability of the three-stage model through participants' behavioral ratings which had seldom been touched upon.

Neuropsychology of humor: an introduction. Part II. Humor and the brain.

Impairment of the perception or comprehension of humor is observed in patients with focal brain lesions in both hemispheres, but mainly in the right frontal lobe. Studies by functional magnetic resonance imaging in healthy subjects show that humor is associated with activation of two main neural systems in both hemispheres. The detection and resolution of incongruity, cognitive groundings of humor, are associated with activation of the medial prefrontal and temporoparietal cortex, and the humor appreciation with activation of the orbito-frontal and insular cortex, amygdala and the brain reward system. However, activation of these areas is not humor-specific and can be observed in various cognitive or emotional processes. Event-related potential studies confirm the involvement of both hemispheres in humor processing, and suggest that left prefrontal area is associated with joke comprehension and right prefrontal area with the resolution stage. Humor thus appears to be a complex and dynamic functional process involving, on one hand, two specialized but not specific neural systems linked to humor apprehension and appreciation, and, on the other hand, multiple interconnected functional brain networks including neural patterns underlying the moral framework and belief system, acquired by conditioning or imitation during the cognitive development and social interactions of the individual, and more distributed systems associated with the analysis of the current context of humor occurrence. Disturbances of the sense of humor could then result from focal brain alterations localized in one or two of the specialized areas underlying the comprehension or appreciation of humor, or from perturbations of the network interconnectivity in non-focal brain disorders such as Alzheimer's disease or schizophrenia.

Schema strength, processing opportunity, and the rewarding nature of incongruity resolution in advertising

Extant literature calls for more research to identify the boundary conditions as well as the process underlying the effects of ad messages that violate specific brand beliefs. This paper examines different levels of ad–brand incongruity, considering brand schema strength and processing opportunity as factors that influence the perception and the resolution of incongruity. Moreover, it provides empirical evidence for the process mediating attitudinal responses to ad–brand incongruity. Experiment 1 shows superiority for moderately incongruent ads over congruent and extremely incongruent ads which is eliminated when participants have a weak, as opposed to a strong, brand schema. Experiment 2 replicates the nonmonotonic pattern for strong, real brands but further shows that low processing opportunity favors congruent ads. Mediation analysis reveals that the psychological satisfaction experienced during the ad interpretation process has an asymmetric mediating effect, such that moderate levels of ad–brand incongruity generate highest levels of satisfaction which then leads to more positive responses.

Neuropsychology of humor: an introduction Part 1. Psychological data

Humor is, from a psychological point of view, a complex process involving cognitive, affective, interspersonal and social elements in a interpersonal context. Its cognitive core is based on the perception of incongruity between two related inconsistent or contradictory mental representations. The total or partial resolution of incongruity in a playful frame is associated with a specific positive emotion, which characteristics and intensity are determined by the structure of the humoristic stimulus more than its content, and the personal and social contexts. Main theories of humor are reviewed as well as its development, its cognitive and affective correlates, and the influence of genre, age and personality.

The Frog Test: A Tool for Measuring Humor Theories' Validity and Humor Preferences.

The Frog Test: A Tool for Measuring Humor Theories' Validity and Humor Preferences.

What's so funny? Modelling incongruity in humour production

ABSTRACTFinding something humorous is intrinsically rewarding and may facilitate emotion regulation, but what creates humour has been underexplored. The present experimental study examined humour generated under controlled conditions with varying social, affective, and cognitive factors. Participants listed five ways in which a set of concept pairs (e.g. MONEY and CHOCOLATE) were similar or different in either a funny way (intentional humour elicitation) or a “catchy” way (incidental humour elicitation). Results showed that more funny responses were produced under the incidental condition, and particularly more for affectively charged than neutral concepts, for semantically unrelated than related concepts, and for responses highlighting differences rather than similarities between concepts. Further analyses revealed that funny responses showed a relative divergence in output dominance of the properties typically associated with each concept in the pair (that is, funny responses frequently highlighted a property high in output dominance for one concept but simultaneously low in output dominance for the other concept); by contrast, responses judged not funny did not show this pattern. These findings reinforce the centrality of incongruity resolution as a key cognitive ingredient for some pleasurable emotional elements arising from humour and demonstrate how it may operate within the context of humour generation.