Skip to main content
Log in

Humor und Gehirn

Neurobiologische Aspekte

Humor and the brain

Neurobiological aspects

  • Beiträge zum Themenschwerpunkt
  • Published:
Zeitschrift für Gerontologie und Geriatrie Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Zusammenfassung

In den letzten Jahren sind viele Untersuchungen zur Verarbeitung witziger Stimuli im Gehirn erschienen. Im vorliegenden Artikel werden die Ergebnisse hinsichtlich der beteiligten Strukturen und neuropsychologische Untersuchungen zu den notwendigen kognitiven Werkzeugen wie z. B. Arbeitsgedächtnis und mentale Flexibilität dargestellt. Andererseits sind auch viele Komponenten des Humors, wie z. B. die Produktion von Komik, neurophysiologisch noch nicht gut untersucht. Auch hierüber wird ein Überblick gegeben. Wie sich Alterungsprozesse auf die verschiedenen Aspekte zerebraler Humorprozesse auswirken, ist ebenfalls bisher nur wenig erforscht.

Abstract

In recent years, a number of studies have been published on cerebral activation induced by funny stimuli. This article provides an overview on the structures involved and findings concerning the neuropsychological faculties necessary for joke comprehension, e.g., working memory and mental flexibility. On the other hand, there are also many aspects of humor, like joke production, that are not neuropsychologically well studied; an overview of current knowledge will be given. In addition, there is little research on the effect of aging on the different aspects of cerebral humor processing.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Abb. 1

Literatur

  1. Azim E, Mobbs D, Jo B et al (2005) Sex differences in brain activation elicited by humor. PNAS 102:16496–16501

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  2. Bartolo A, Benuzzi F, Nocetti L et al (2006) Humor comprehension and appreciation: an fMRI study. J Cogn Neurosci 18:1789–1798

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  3. Bihrle AM, Brownell HH, Powelson JA et al (1986) Comprehension of humorous and nonhumorous materials by left and right brain-damaged patients. Brain Cogn 5:399–411

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  4. Brownell HH, Michel D, Powelson J et al (1983) Surprise but not coherence: sensitivity to verbal humor in right-hemisphere patients. Brain Lang 18:20–27

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  5. Dagge M, Hartje W (1985) Influence of contextual complexity on the processing of cartoons by patients with unilateral lesions. Cortex 21:607–616

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  6. Freud S (2004) Der Witz und seine Beziehung zum Unbewußten. Der Humor, 7. Aufl. Fischer, Frankfurt a. M.

  7. Gardner H, Ling PK, Flamm L et al (1975) Comprehension and appreciation of humorous material following brain damage. Brain 98:399–412

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  8. Goel V, Dolan RJ (2001) The functional anatomy of humor: segregating cognitive and affective components. Nat Neurosci 4:237–238

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  9. Goel V, Raymond J Dolan (2007) Social regulation of affective experience of humor. J Cogn Neurosci 9:1574–1580

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Goldin P, Hutcherson C, Ochsner K et al (2005) The neural basement of amusement and sadness: a comparison of block contrast and subject-specific emotion intensity regression approaches. Neuroimage 27:25–36

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Marjoran D, Tansley H, Miller P et al (2005) A theory of mind investigation into the appreciation of visual jokes in schizophrenia. BMC Psychiatry 5:12

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. McGhee PE (1999) Health, healing and the amuse system. Humor as survival training. 3rd edn. Kendall/Hunt, Dubuque/IA

  13. Mobbs D, Greicius MD, Abdel-Azim E et al (2003) Humor modulates the mesolimbic reward centers. Neuron 40:1041–1048

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  14. Moran JM, Wig GS, Adams RB et al (2004) Neural correlates of humor detection and appreciation. Neuroimage 21:1055–1060

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  15. Reiss AL, Hoeft F, Tenforde AS et al (2008) Anomalous hypothalamic responses to humor in cataplexy. PloS ONE 3:e2225

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  16. Samson AC, Hempelmann CF, Huber O et al (2009) Neural substrates of incongruity-resolution and nonsense humor. Neuropsychologia 47:1023–1033

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  17. Samson AC, Zysset S, Huber O (2008) Cognitive humor processing: different logical mechanisms in nonverbal cartoons – an fMRI study. Soc Neurosci 3:125–140

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  18. Schwartz S, Ponz A, Poryazova R et al (2008) Abnormal activity in hypothalamus and amygdala during humour processing in human narcolepsy with cataplexy. Brain 131:514–522

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  19. Shammi P, Stuss DT (1999) Humour appreciation: a role of the right frontal lobe. Brain 122:657–666

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  20. Shammi P, Stuss DT (2003) The effects of normal aging on humor appreciation. J Int Neuropsychol Soc 9:855–863

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  21. Uekermann J, Channon S, Daum I (2006) Humor processing, mentalizing, and executive function in normal aging. J Int Neuropsychol Soc 12:184–191

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  22. Wapner W, Hamby S, Gardner H (1981) The role of the right hemisphere in the apprehension of complex linguistic material. Brain Lang 14:15–33

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  23. Watson KK, Matthews BJ, Allman JM (2007) Brain activation during sight gags and language-dependent humor. Cereb Cortex 17:314–324

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  24. Wild B, Rodden FA, Rapp A et al (2006) Humor and smiling: cortical regions selective for cognitive, affective, and volitional components. Neurology 66:887–893

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  25. Winner E, Brownell H, Happe F et al (1998) Distinguishing lies from jokes: theory of mind deficits and discourse interpretation in right hemisphere brain-damaged patients. Brain Lang 62:89–106

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  26. Zaidel E, Kasher A, Soroker N et al (2002) Effects of right and left hemisphere damage on performance of the „Right Hemisphere Communication Battery“. Brain Lang 80:510–535

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Interessenkonflikt

Die korrespondierende Autorin gibt an, dass kein Interessenkonflikt besteht.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to B. Wild.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Wild, B. Humor und Gehirn. Z Gerontol Geriat 43, 31–35 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00391-009-0084-y

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00391-009-0084-y

Schlüsselwörter

Keywords

Navigation