Abstract
The self-defeating humor style is characterized by the excessive use of self-mockery, fawning over others and ineffective denial of negative emotions. The differences in brain structures responsible for self-defeating humor and the role of divergent thinking (DT) in this relationship have not been directly investigated in a large sample. Using voxel-based morphometry (VBM), we identified the association between regional gray matter volume (GMV) and self-defeating humor (assessed by the Humor Style Questionnaire) in 284 participants. Then, the role of DT (assessed by the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking, TTCT) in the relationship between humor and the related brain regions was examined in the participants (N = 280). The results showed that self-defeating humor was significantly positively associated with the regional GMV in the left orbital frontal cortex (OFC) and that DT had a moderating effect on this relationship. Among the individuals with higher DT, a strong positive correlation was observed between self-defeating humor and the OFC, but among individuals with lower DT, this correlation was weaker. These results reveal that the interaction between brain structures and DT plays an important role in humor, thus providing new evidence enhancing our understanding of the mechanism of humor.
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Acknowledgements
This research was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31571138; 31470981; 31571137; 31500885; 31600878; 31771231), Project of the National Defense Science and Technology Innovation Special Zone, Chang Jiang Scholars Program, National Outstanding Young People Plan, the Program for the Top Young Talents by Chongqing, the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (SWU1609177), Natural Science Foundation of Chongqing (cstc2015jcyjA10106), Fok Ying Tung Education Foundation (151023), the program from the Beijing Municipal Commission of Education (TJSH20161002801), the Research Program Funds of the Collaborative Innovation Center of Assessment toward Basic Education Quality at Beijing Normal University.
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Zhang, W., Zhuang, K., Chen, Q. et al. Relationship between self-defeating humor and the Gray matter volume in the orbital frontal cortex: the moderating effect of divergent thinking. Brain Imaging and Behavior 15, 2168–2177 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11682-020-00412-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11682-020-00412-5