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Author ORCID Identifier

Yu-Chen Chan: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1969-4818

Abstract

A humor structure comprises two essential stages: the setup and the punch line. The punch line stage is to provide the incongruity resolution that creates amusement in humor. The current article aimed to look into how humor is amusing and how it differs between the sexes. Functional and effective connectivity analyses in cognitive and affective neuroscience have facilitated the implications of humor comprehension, appreciation, and laughter responses. The processing of incongruity-resolution humor revealed effective connectivity from the amygdala to the precuneus (amygdala → precuneus). Conversely, the processing of nonsense humor demonstrated effective connectivity from the amygdala to the inferior frontal gyrus (amygdala → IFG). During humor appreciation, there was effective connectivity from the ventral tegmental area (VTA) to the amygdala (VTA → amygdala) for incongruity resolution humor and nonsense humor. Interestingly, women exhibited greater activation in the mesolimbic reward system than men.

First Page

192

Last Page

204

Ethics Approval

Yes

Declaration Statement

Data Availability Statement

The data the support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon request.

Funding Statement

The Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) of Taiwan, which is currently known as the National Science and Technology Council (NSTC), provided funding for this study. Furthermore, this study was supported by a grant from the Yin Shu-Tien Educational Foundation of the National Tsing Hua University for kind financial support.

Conflict of Interest Disclosure

The author declares no conflict of interest.

Ethics Approval Statement

All experimental protocols were approved by the Research Ethics Committee of National Tsing Hua University.

Participant Consent Statement

All participants signed written informed consent forms prior to the experiment.

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