The role of context in verbal humor processing in autism

Purser, HRM ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3307-8421, Van Herwegen, J, Ranzato, E and Thomas, MSC, 2021. The role of context in verbal humor processing in autism. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 209: 105166. ISSN 0022-0965

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Abstract

Difficulties in processing humor have been associated with individuals with autism. The current study investigated whether humor comprehension and appreciation could be augmented in children with autism by providing contextual support suggesting that humor was to be expected. A verbally presented riddle task was used in which participants were assessed for their subjective ratings and comprehension of the materials. They were also filmed to record any smiling or laughing. Both riddles and control stimuli were presented with supporting verbal context and also without it. The results showed that (a) the greater subjective appreciation of riddles than of control stimuli was dependent on the provision of context for the participants with autism and that (b) context statistically equated these ratings of riddles between participants with autism and matched typically developing controls. However, context had no effect on comprehension or affective response. The results of the current study demonstrate that children with autism are, even in the most conservative interpretation, able to use verbal context to recognize verbal humor. This lays the foundation of possible interventions based on training sensitivity to context.

Item Type:	Journal article
Publication Title:	Journal of Experimental Child Psychology
Creators:	Purser, H.R.M., Van Herwegen, J., Ranzato, E. and Thomas, M.S.C.
Publisher:	Elsevier BV
Date:	September 2021
Volume:	209
ISSN:	0022-0965
Identifiers:	Number Type 10.1016/j.jecp.2021.105166 DOI 1439098 Other
Divisions:	Schools > School of Social Sciences
Record created by:	Laura Ward
Date Added:	16 Feb 2022 09:16
Last Modified:	12 May 2022 03:00
URI:	https://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/45688

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