title: The role of prosody and context in sarcasm comprehension: Behavioral and fMRI evidence.
abstract: A hearer's perception of an utterance as sarcastic depends on integration of the heard statement, the discourse context, and the prosody of the utterance, as well as evaluation of the incongruity among these aspects. The effect of prosody in sarcasm comprehension is evident in everyday conversation, but little is known about its underlying mechanism or neural substrates. To elucidate the neural underpinnings of sarcasm comprehension in the auditory modality, we conducted a functional MRI experiment with 21 adult participants. The participants were provided with a short vignette in which a child had done either a good or bad deed, about which a parent made a positive comment. The participants were required to judge the degree of the sarcasm in the parent's positive comment (praise), which was accompanied by either positive or negative affective prosody. The behavioral data revealed that an incongruent combination of utterance and the context (i.e., the parent's positive comment on a bad deed by the child) induced perception of sarcasm. There was a significant interaction between context and prosody: sarcasm perception was enhanced when positive prosody was used in the context of a bad deed or, vice versa, when negative prosody was used in the context of a good deed. The corresponding interaction effect was observed in the rostro-ventral portion of the left inferior frontal gyrus corresponding to Brodmann's Area (BA) 47. Negative prosody incongruent with a positive utterance (praise) activated the bilateral insula extending to the right inferior frontal gyrus, anterior cingulate cortex, and brainstem. Our findings provide evidence that the left inferior frontal gyrus, particularly BA 47, is involved in integration of discourse context and utterance with affective prosody in the comprehension of sarcasm.
authors.affiliation: Center for Research in International Education, Tokyo Gakugei University, 4-1-1 Nukuikitamachi, Koganei, Tokyo 184-8501, Japan.
authors.forename: Tomoko
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Matsui
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Environment and Information Studies, Keio University, 5322 Endo, Fujisawa, Kanagawa 252-8520, Japan.
authors.forename: Tagiru
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Nakamura
authors.affiliation: Department of Informatics, Graduate School of Informatics and Engineering, The University of Electro-Communications, 1-5-1 Chofugaoka, Chofu, Tokyo 182-8585, Japan.
authors.forename: Akira
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Utsumi
authors.affiliation: Department of System Neuroscience, Division of Cerebral Integration, National Institute for Physiological Sciences (NIPS), 38 Nishigonaka, Myodaiji, Okazaki, Aichi 444-8585, Japan; Pathophysiological and Health Science Team, RIKEN Center for Life Science Technologies, 6-7-3 Minatojima-minamimachi, Chuo-ku, Kobe, Hyogo 650-0047, Japan; Department of Physiology, Osaka City University Graduate School of Medicine, 1-4-3 Asahi-machi, Abeno-ku, Osaka 545-8585, Japan.
authors.forename: Akihiro T
authors.initials: AT
authors.lastname: Sasaki
authors.affiliation: Department of System Neuroscience, Division of Cerebral Integration, National Institute for Physiological Sciences (NIPS), 38 Nishigonaka, Myodaiji, Okazaki, Aichi 444-8585, Japan.
authors.forename: Takahiko
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Koike
authors.affiliation: Department of System Neuroscience, Division of Cerebral Integration, National Institute for Physiological Sciences (NIPS), 38 Nishigonaka, Myodaiji, Okazaki, Aichi 444-8585, Japan; Department of Physiological Sciences, School of Life Science, SOKENDAI (The Graduate University for Advanced Studies), Shonan Village, Hayama, Kanagawa 240-0193, Japan.
authors.forename: Yumiko
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yoshida
authors.affiliation: Department of System Neuroscience, Division of Cerebral Integration, National Institute for Physiological Sciences (NIPS), 38 Nishigonaka, Myodaiji, Okazaki, Aichi 444-8585, Japan.
authors.forename: Tokiko
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Harada
authors.affiliation: Department of System Neuroscience, Division of Cerebral Integration, National Institute for Physiological Sciences (NIPS), 38 Nishigonaka, Myodaiji, Okazaki, Aichi 444-8585, Japan; Department of Social Environment, Graduate School of Environmental Studies, Nagoya University, Furo-cho, Chikusa-ku, Nagoya, Aichi 464-8601, Japan.
authors.forename: Hiroki C
authors.initials: HC
authors.lastname: Tanabe
authors.affiliation: Department of System Neuroscience, Division of Cerebral Integration, National Institute for Physiological Sciences (NIPS), 38 Nishigonaka, Myodaiji, Okazaki, Aichi 444-8585, Japan; Department of Physiological Sciences, School of Life Science, SOKENDAI (The Graduate University for Advanced Studies), Shonan Village, Hayama, Kanagawa 240-0193, Japan. Electronic address: sadato@nips.ac.jp.
authors.forename: Norihiro
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Sadato
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology*; D001931:Brain Mapping; D032882:Comprehension / Q000502:physiology*; D004644:Emotions / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007600:Judgment / Q000502:physiology; D007802:Language; D007807:Language Tests; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual / Q000502:physiology; D021641:Recognition, Psychology / Q000502:physiology; D013067:Speech Perception / Q000502:physiology; D014925:Wit and Humor as Topic; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Functional magnetic resonance imaging; Incongruity; Inferior frontal gyrus; Modulation; Prosody; Sarcasm