Adamczyk Przemysław, Wyczesany Miroslaw, Domagalik Aleksandra, Daren Artur, Cepuch Kamil, Błądziński Piotr, Cechnicki Andrzej, Marek Tadeusz
Department of Community Psychiatry, Medical College, Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland; Psychosis Research and Psychotherapy Unit, Association for the Development of Psychiatry and Community Care, Krakow, Poland.
Psychophysiology Laboratory, Institute of Psychology, Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland.
Neuroimage Clin. 2017 Jun 3;15:525-540. doi: 10.1016/j.nicl.2017.06.005. eCollection 2017.
Individuals with schizophrenia exhibit problems with understanding the figurative meaning of language. This study evaluates neural correlates of diminished humor comprehension observed in schizophrenia. The study included chronic schizophrenia (SCH) outpatients (n = 20), and sex, age and education level matched healthy controls (n = 20). The fMRI punchline based humor comprehension task consisted of 60 stories of which 20 had funny, 20 nonsensical and 20 neutral (not funny) punchlines. After the punchlines were presented, the participants were asked to indicate whether the story was comprehensible and how funny it was. Three contrasts were analyzed in both groups reflecting stages of humor processing: abstract vs neutral stories - incongruity detection; funny vs abstract - incongruity resolution and elaboration; and funny vs neutral - complete humor processing. Additionally, parametric modulation analysis was performed using both subjective ratings separately. Between-group comparisons revealed that the SCH subjects had attenuated activation in the right posterior superior temporal gyrus (BA 41) in case of irresolvable incongruity processing of nonsensical puns; in the left dorsomedial middle and superior frontal gyri (BA 8/9) in case of incongruity resolution and elaboration processing of funny puns; and in the interhemispheric dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (BA 24) in case of complete processing of funny puns. Additionally, during comprehensibility ratings the SCH group showed a suppressed activity in the left dorsomedial middle and superior frontal gyri (BA 8/9) and revealed weaker activation during funniness ratings in the left dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (BA 24). Interestingly, these differences in the SCH group were accompanied behaviorally by a protraction of time in both types of rating responses and by indicating funny punchlines less comprehensible. Summarizing, our results indicate neural substrates of humor comprehension processing impairments in schizophrenia, which is accompanied by fronto-temporal hypoactivation.
精神分裂症患者在理解语言的比喻意义方面存在问题。本研究评估了精神分裂症患者中观察到的幽默理解能力下降的神经相关性。该研究纳入了慢性精神分裂症（SCH）门诊患者（n = 20），以及性别、年龄和教育水平相匹配的健康对照者（n = 20）。基于功能性磁共振成像（fMRI）的笑点幽默理解任务由60个故事组成，其中20个故事有有趣的笑点，20个有无意义的笑点，20个有中性（无趣）的笑点。在呈现笑点后，要求参与者指出故事是否可理解以及有多有趣。在两组中分析了反映幽默处理阶段的三个对比：抽象故事与中性故事——不一致检测；有趣故事与抽象故事——不一致解决与阐述；有趣故事与中性故事——完整幽默处理。此外，分别使用两种主观评分进行了参数调制分析。组间比较显示，在处理无意义双关语的不可解决的不一致情况时，SCH组受试者右侧后颞上回（BA 41）的激活减弱；在处理有趣双关语的不一致解决与阐述情况时，左侧背内侧额中回和额上回（BA 8/9）的激活减弱；在处理有趣双关语的完整情况时，半球间背侧前扣带回皮质（BA 24）的激活减弱。此外，在可理解性评分期间，SCH组在左侧背内侧额中回和额上回（BA 8/9）表现出活动受抑制，并且在有趣性评分期间在左侧背侧前扣带回皮质（BA 24）表现出较弱的激活。有趣的是，SCH组的这些差异在行为上表现为两种评分反应的时间延长，并且表明有趣的笑点更难理解。总之，我们的结果表明精神分裂症患者幽默理解处理受损的神经基础，同时伴有额颞叶低激活。
