An observational study of humor in autism and Down syndrome.
Investigated examples of naturalistic humor in a group of 6 young children with autism and 6 age- and language-matched children with Down syndrome, who were videotaped while interacting with their mothers in bimonthly 1-hour sessions over the course of 1 year. Humor episodes were analyzed on three dimensions: cognitive developmental, social, and intentionality. The autistic children produced significantly less humor overall and less humor involving nonverbal incongruity. The only jokes in the study were told by 2 of the children with Down syndrome. Results indicate that while children with autism can produce and appreciate humor to a limited extent in a naturalistic setting, they do so at a significantly reduced level compared to matched controls. Findings are discussed in relation to the social-cognitive deficits in autistic children, which are among the primary characteristics of the syndrome.
St James
P J
PJ
Department of Psychology, University of Massachusetts, Boston 02125-3393.
Tager-Flusberg
H
H
D001321:Autistic Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004314:Down Syndrome / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009034:Mother-Child Relations; D010553:Personality Development; D012919:Social Behavior; D012931:Social Environment; D014925:Wit and Humor as Topic