Neural correlates of irony comprehension: The role of schizotypal personality traits

Neural evidence that utterance-processing entails mentalizing: The case of irony

“…There are currently seven studies that employ functional neuroimaging techniques to investigate irony processing on healthy participants (Eviatar and Just, 2006;Rapp et al, 2010;Shibata et al, 2010;Uchiyama et al, 2006Uchiyama et al, , 2011Wakusawa et al, 2007;Wang et al, 2006; see Table 1 for a description and summary of the prior neuroimaging studies). Remarkably, no single study reports extensive activity in the ToM network in the way that neural ToM tasks do (cf.…”

Cognition and Brain Function in Schizotypy: A Selective Review

“…This model is supported by a recent fMRI study in psychometric schizotypy. 105 During comprehension of ironic remarks, healthy individuals with elevated schizotypy scores showed decreased bilateral temporal, but increased left prefrontal activation. 105 A defective left hemisphere language system would also be compatible with the observation of N400 abnormalities 108 and other functional neuroimaging evidence indicating reduced language lateralization.…”

“…105 During comprehension of ironic remarks, healthy individuals with elevated schizotypy scores showed decreased bilateral temporal, but increased left prefrontal activation. 105 A defective left hemisphere language system would also be compatible with the observation of N400 abnormalities 108 and other functional neuroimaging evidence indicating reduced language lateralization. Yet, the consistency of such findings 113 and their psychopharmacological mediation 114 remain debated (see also Mohr and Claridge,16 on the link between language and creativity).…”

“…While nonliteral language comprehension problems seem correlated with schizotypy across the spectrum, 80,102 the association in nonclinical schizotypy is subtle 103 or even controversial, 100,104 but still detectable on the neural level. 105 A number of mechanisms may contribute to these deficits, 106 including semantic association differences, [107][108][109] aberrant semantic priming mechanisms, 106 and inadequate context integration. 110,111 Most likely both cerebral hemispheres contribute to language differences associated with elevated schizotypy, 80,105 with the right hemisphere thought to play an important role in loosening of associations and pragmatic language deficits in schizotypy.…”

“…105 A number of mechanisms may contribute to these deficits, 106 including semantic association differences, [107][108][109] aberrant semantic priming mechanisms, 106 and inadequate context integration. 110,111 Most likely both cerebral hemispheres contribute to language differences associated with elevated schizotypy, 80,105 with the right hemisphere thought to play an important role in loosening of associations and pragmatic language deficits in schizotypy. 99,103 Left fronto-temporal language network abnormalities may also explain language differences in schizotypy.…”