ArticleNeuroImage. Clinical2017
Neural circuit of verbal humor comprehension in schizophrenia - an fMRI study.
Article in NeuroImage. Clinical, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 13 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
13 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Non-literal language processing is jointly supported by the language and theory of mind networks: Evidence from a novel meta-analytic fMRI approach.Cortex; a journal devoted to the study of the nervous system and behavior · 2023Pooled it
- Overlapping and specific neural correlates for empathizing, affective mentalizing, and cognitive mentalizing: A coordinate-based meta-analytic study.Human brain mapping · 2021Pooled it
- Interpretation of ambiguous and unambiguous idiomatic statements in high and low schizotypal individuals.Schizophrenia research. Cognition · 2026Article
- Humor processing and its relationship with clinical features in patients with first-episode schizophrenia.Schizophrenia research. Cognition · 2025Article
- Electroencephalography (EEG) Evidence for the Psychological Processes of Humor Generation: A Comparison Perspective on Humor and Creativity.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- On the specificity of figurative language comprehension impairment in schizophrenia and its relation to cognitive skills but not psychopathological symptoms - Study on metaphor, humor and irony.Schizophrenia research. Cognition · 2024Article
- Dynamic cognitive processes of humor generation: activation and inhibition of information.Psychological research · 2023Article
- Altered brain activity in the bilateral frontal cortices and neural correlation with cognitive impairment in schizophrenia.Brain imaging and behavior · 2022Article
- Functional near-infrared spectroscopy imaging of the prefrontal cortex during a naturalistic comedy movie.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2022Article
- Article
- Humor in Psychiatry: Lessons From Neuroscience, Psychopathology, and Treatment Research.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2021Article
- Reduced synchronized brain activity in schizophrenia during viewing of comedy movies.Scientific reports · 2019Article
- Abnormal neural hierarchy in processing of verbal information in patients with schizophrenia.NeuroImage. Clinical · 2018Article
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Authors and funding
8 authors.
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Abstract
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.
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