By Jennie Iverson, Washington
University in St. Louis, http://www.wustl.edu/
It’s no laughing matter
that older adults have a tougher time understanding basic jokes than do younger
adults.
It’s partially due to a
cognitive decline associated with age, according to Washington University in
St. Louis researchers Wingyun Mak, a graduate student in psychology in Arts
& Sciences, and Brian Carpenter, Ph.D., Washington University associate
professor of psychology.
Humor comprehension in older
adults functions in a different fashion than humor comprehension in younger
adults. The researchers studied older adults from a university subject pool
as well as undergraduate students. The subjects participated in tests that indicated
their ability to complete jokes accurately as well as tests that indicated their
cognitive capabilities in areas of abstract reasoning, short-term memory, and
cognitive flexibility. Overall, older adults demonstrated lower performance
on both tests of cognitive ability as well as tests of humor comprehension than
did younger adults.
"However, just because
you’re an older adult does not mean that you can’t understand humor. All hope
is not lost," said Mak. "This is just the first step in understanding
how humor comprehension functions in older adults." There are likely a
multitude of factors, like previous experiences, preferences, and personality
that also contribute to how well someone understands different types of humor.
The hope would be that this
study and future research would allow researchers to gain a greater understanding
of the relationship between cognition and humor comprehension. Perhaps down
the line, this knowledge may inform the way humor is integrated into programs
targeted at improving the quality of life for older adults.
The paper, published in
the Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, was based on the
theory that humor comprehension is a result of resolving incongruities—resolving
the conflict between the expected and the actual, which requires a combination
of cognitive skills. As older adults age, they experience cognitive declines
that the researchers indicate affect their ability to comprehend humor.
Duh, I don’t get it
The measure used, the Joke
and Story Completion Test, was developed by Hiram Brownell in 1983. A joke stem
was presented with four different endings including the correct humorous ending;
a humorous nonsequitur — an ending that does not make sense with the joke
stem but is funny in and of itself; an unhumorous straightforward answer; and
an unhumorous, unrelated nonsequitur. The correct "funny" answer required
that the participant integrate the three different cognitive measures tested
in the study — abstract reasoning, short-term memory, and cognitive flexibility.
Previous researchers have
attributed some of the age-related deficits in humor comprehension to deficits
in frontal lobe-mediated abilities. Mak and Carpenter’s research supports this
claim.
In addition, Mak and Carpenter
added an element previously untested in humor comprehension studies —
they included both a nonverbal joke completion test that structurally mirrored
the verbal joke completion measure, allowing them to compare between the nonverbal
and verbal completion tests.
Laughter is a physical activity
— it burns calories, strengthens abdominal muscles, and boosts the immune
system, among other benefits. Although they did not study the specific benefits
of laughter and humor, it has been well documented that, as Mak said, "It
can’t hurt your physical state to be able to understand humor."
Laughter also has sociological
benefits and plays a role in building and maintaining relationships. Thus, many
older adult day services and programs incorporate humor as a way to improve
both physical and psychological aspects of participants’ lives.
The idea that humor can
help older adults cope with life-changing events is not a new one, but relatively
unstudied by researchers. "The holy grail is, of course, humor appreciation.
Understanding how humor comprehension works in older adults is the first step
in this process," said Carpenter.
Humor comprehension, not
humor appreciation
Previous work has looked
at humor appreciation and humor comprehension simultaneously. Mak and Carpenter
strove to study only the aspect of comprehension in hopes of understanding the
step that occurs before one can appreciate humor.
"Humor is a big part
of enjoying life and everyday relationships," Mak said.
Understanding the relationship
between humor comprehension and cognition may eventually facilitate the way
humor is integrated into programs or therapies for older adults.
So when your grandparents
or older relatives say that they "just don’t understand" your movies
or your favorite comedians, there may be more at work than just generational
differences in what they as appreciate as "funny."
They legitimately may not
get the jokes. That being said, researchers are just beginning to "tease"
out ways to prevent cognitive decline in older adults, and hopefully one day
grandchildren and their grandparents will be able to giggle at the same bad
jokes. Appreciating the same comedian is a whole other can of peanut brittle
filled with fake snakes.
By Jennie Iverson,
Washington University in St. Louis, http://www.wustl.edu/
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