Anatomy of Sarcasm

(Eds note: I stumbled upon this article and didn’t notice it was from 2005 until after I wrote it up! However, I think it deserves a little more limelight. For more recent press releases about psychology and mental health, visit http://www.apa.org/releases/homepage.html)

A 2005 press release from the American Psychological Association announces new research in the field of sarcasm. Israeli researchers at the Rambam Medical Center in Haifa and the University of Haifa, studied 25 participants with prefrontal-lobe damage, 16 participants with posterior-lobe damage and 17 healthy controls. All participants listened to brief recorded stories, some sarcastic, some neutral, that had been taped by actors reading in a corresponding manner, then answered questions that gauged the participant’s comprehension of the speaker’s true meaning. Participants with prefrontal damage were impaired in comprehending sarcasm, whereas the people in the other two groups had no such problem.

According to the APA, “The findings fit what we already know about brain anatomy. The prefrontal cortex is involved in pragmatic language processes and complex social cognition, thus it followed that participants with prefrontal damage had faulty ?óÔé¼?ôsarcasm meters.?óÔé¼?Ø At the same time, damage to the ventromedial area, which is involved in personality and social behavior, will disrupt not only understanding sarcasm but also understanding social cues, empathic response and emotion recognition. The authors write, ?óÔé¼?ôUnderstanding sarcasm requires both the ability to understand the speaker?óÔé¼Ôäós belief about the listener?óÔé¼Ôäós belief and the ability to identify emotions.”

CITATION:
?óÔé¼?ôThe Neuroanatomical Basis of Understanding Sarcasm and Its Relationship to Social Cognition,?óÔé¼?Ø S.G. Shamay-Tsoory, PhD, and R. Tomer, PhD, Rambam Medical Center and University of Haifa, and J. Aharon-Peretz, MD, Rambam Medical Center; Neuropsychology, Vol. 19, No. 3.