The Use of Bright and Dark Types of Humour is Rooted in the Brain

Abstract

The ways in which humour can be used are related to the manifold interpersonal functions humour can serve, some of which are positive, and some negative. In the present study, phasic changes in the functional coupling of prefrontal and posterior cortex (EEG coherence) during other people’s auditory displays of happy and sad mood were recorded to predict people’s typical use of humour in social interactions. Greater use of benevolent humour, the intentions of which are in keeping with the characteristics of “laughing-with” humour, was associated with greater decreases of prefrontal-posterior coupling during the processing of happy laughter. More loose prefrontal-posterior coupling indicates loosening of control of the prefrontal cortex over the incoming perceptual information, thereby opening up the perceptual gate and allowing the brain to become more affected by the social-emotional signals. Greater use of humour styles linked to malicious intentions of “laughing-at” humour was associated with responses indicating a wider opened perceptual gate during the processing of other people’s crying. The findings are consistent with the idea that typical humour styles develop in line with the rewarding values of their outcomes (e.g., interaction partners are happy or hurt), which in turn are defined through the individuals’ latent interpersonal goals.

Broadening Humor: Comic Styles Differentially Tap into Temperament, Character, and Ability

“…Further research will show what the unique contributions of the individual styles are and where aggregation is meaningful. In an EEG study of 52 participants, potential brain mechanisms underlying different types of humor were investigated (Papousek et al, 2017). It provided evidence for the unique status of humor among the light styles, and the overlapping effects of sarcasm, cynicism and irony among the mocking comic styles.…”

The effect of humour on nursing professionals’ psychological well‐being goes beyond the influence of empathy: a cross‐sectional study

“…Nevertheless, not all forms of humour are beneficial as there are relevant differences based on their roles in social functioning. Humour is a broad construct that comprises joyful and affiliative experiences but also more negative expressions, such as sarcasm, mockery or derision . Both sides, one lighter and one darker, have been captured across different models aimed at describing individual differences in humour and laughter.…”

Prefrontal-posterior coupling mediates emotion transitions and their influence on executive function

“…In our experimental paradigm, we consider the interaction of changes in emotional stimuli and neural responses thereto as potential correlates of self-regulation. Decreases in beta frequency band prefrontal-posterior EEG coherence induced by emotional stimulation reflect a loosening of the prefrontal cortex's regulatory control of parietal regions 9,[11][12][13][14][15] . Therefore, beta coherence plays a critical role in brain networks responding to emotion-cognition interaction.…”

“…We examined beta frequency band [14 30] Hz, low [14 20] Hz and high [20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30] Hz beta frequency band coherence initially based on prior work, significant effects of condition on coherence were observed in both hemispheres. Because low beta frequency band ( [14,20] Hz) coherence had consistently strong effects and mediated the subsequent EF, we only report results from low beta frequency band coherence (Figure 1 Dynamic conditions evoked lower coherence than static conditions ( Table 1). In the right hemisphere, F (1, 98) = 28.49, p < .001, PCV-within = 21.7%; in the left hemisphere, F (1, 98) = 18.26, p < .001, PCV-within = 14.9%.…”