Humor and emotion: Quantitative meta analyses of functional neuroimaging studies

Non-literal language processing is jointly supported by the language and Theory of Mind networks: Evidence from a novel meta-analytic fMRI approach

“…The literature search was conducted in accordance with PRISMA guidelines (Moher et al, 2009). Relevant studies published after 2000 were identified in NeuroSynth , Google Scholar , APA PsycInfo , and PubMed databases using Boolean searches of the following keywords: “anaphora,” “anthropomorphism,” “comedy,” “discourse comprehension,” “figurative language,” “figure of speech,” “hyperbole,” “humor”, “idioms,” “indirect request,” “indirect speech,” “ironic,” “irony,” “jokes,” “lying,” “metaphor,” “metonymy,” “narrative,” “non-literal language,” “oxymoron,” “paradox,” “personification,” “platitude,” “pragmatics,” “prosody,” “proverbs,” “pun,” “sarcasm,” “sarcastic,” “saying,” “speech act,” “synecdoche,” “text coherence,” “text comprehension,” “understatement”, “fMRI,” “brain,” and “neuroimaging.” We additionally examined the reference lists of past neuroimaging meta-analyses on non-literal language processing to minimize the possibility of missing relevant studies (Ferstl et al, 2008; Bohrn et al, 2012; Rapp et al, 2012; Vartanian, 2012; Vrticka et al, 2013; Lisofsky et al, 2014; Yang, 2014; Yang & Shu, 2016; Reyes-Aguilar et al, 2018; Farkas et al, 2021). (Note that we had originally planned to use the NeuroSynth database of extracted peaks (Yarkoni et al, 2011); however, we discovered that NeuroSynth automatically extracts peaks from SPM-style tables in published papers, and such tables frequently include peaks for contrasts in both directions: e.g., in our case, non-literal>literal and literal>non-literal.…”

Toward reanimating the laughter‐involved large‐scale brain networks to alleviate affective symptoms

“…That said, the existing evidence on these facts appear to be thin. Compared to an almost 7700 retrievable scientific papers in our PubMed search using the MeSH (Medical Subject Headings) terms “emotion,” “fear,” and “expression” (Jan 2017–Jan 2021), only 210 papers were extracted when the search terms changed into “emotion,” “expression,” and “laughter.” Furthermore, from the relevant research papers retrieved on laughter, only a handful have experimentally studied this phenomenon (Farkas et al., 2021 , Jáuregui & Lecoq; Martinelli et al., 2021 ; Yang et al., 2021 ).…”

“…It has been accepted that the stereotyped responses in laughter are mediated by subcortical structures, especially the hypothalamus, but cerebral cortex can potentially modulate them. Therefore, it can be hypothesized that the activation and inhibition of the involved networks within the cerebral cortex potentially reinforce the act of laughter or the sense of mirth (Caruana et al., 2015 ; Farkas et al., 2021 ; Martinelli et al., 2021 ; Mazzocconi et al., 2020 ).…”

“…The investigation revealed that exposure to complex humor provokes the regional cerebral blood flow and blood oxygen‐dependent signals in bilateral amygdala and inferior frontal gyri, which are linked to emotional processes. Additionally, cortical areas involved in language, semantic knowledge, and theory of mind similarly demonstrate a surge in activity when individuals are exposed to written and visual humor cues (Farkas et al., 2021 ).…”

“…Though laughter generally corresponds to joy and happiness, its threshold and dynamics might differ among languages and cultures (Farkas et al., 2021 ). In other words, while laughter is identifiable as a universal phenomenon across cultures, its triggers (e.g., verbal, visual, or semantic motives) seem varied from one culture to another.…”