Distinguishing Lies from Jokes: Theory of Mind Deficits and Discourse Interpretation in Right Hemisphere Brain-Damaged Patients

Winner, Ellen; Brownell, Hiram; Happé, Francesca; Blum, Ari; Pincus, Donna B.

doi:10.1006/brln.1997.1889

Cited by 327 publications

(248 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…Intact mentalizing abilities are likely to play an important role in humor processing, because the recipient is assumed to adopt the perspectives of the main protagonists to comprehend the correct punchlines. This assumption is consistent with investigations of humor processing in autism, schizophrenia, alcoholism, and normal aging (Corcoran et al, 1997;Uekermann et al, 2006Uekermann et al, , 2007bWinner et al, 1998).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 88%

Executive function, mentalizing and humor in major depression

Uekermann

Channon

Lehmkämper

et al. 2007

J Int Neuropsychol Soc

124

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Major depression is associated with cognitive deficits including memory, executive functions, and affect perception, which have been linked to dysfunction of fronto-subcortical networks. However, little is known about social cognition on more complex socially relevant tasks, such as humor processing. In this investigation a computerized humor-processing task was administered to 27 patients with a diagnosis of major depression (Dep) and 27 healthy controls (HC). Theory of mind (mentalizing) and executive functions were also assessed. Both groups were similar in IQ, age, and gender. Depressed patients performed below the control group with respect to both affective and cognitive aspects of humor processing, and these were related to mentalizing and executive performance. Our findings suggest social cognition deficits in major depression. Ability to process humor and appreciate mentalistic perspectives may in turn influence social interactions and should be given consideration in therapeutic approaches to depression. (JINS, 2008, 14, 55-62.)

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 88%

Executive function, mentalizing and humor in major depression

Uekermann

Channon

Lehmkämper

et al. 2007

J Int Neuropsychol Soc

124

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“…Our results support the results of previous studies reporting reduced performance on ToM tasks in people with RHD (Brownell et al, 2000;Griffin et al, 2006;Happé et al, 1999;Winner et al, 1998), and point to the need to investigate means of training ToM skills as a part of a post-stroke rehabilitation program (Lundgren, Brownell, Cayer-Meade, & Spitzer, 2007). Whether the performance of people with RHD on ToM tasks is due to a specific ToM deficit or whether performance on ToM tasks is reduced in people with RHD because of impairments in a variety of cognitive domains is still an open question, however, and cannot be answered with the results from the present study.…”

Section: Reduced Mental-state Ascriptionsupporting

confidence: 93%

“…This can include impairment on tasks tapping humor comprehension (Bihrle, Brownell, Powelson, & Gardner, 1986;Brownell, Michel, Powelson, & Gardner, 1983;Winner, Brownell, Happe, Blum, & Pincus, 1998), indirect requests (Brownell & Stringfellow, 1999;Foldi, 1987;Hirst, LeDoux, & Stein, 1984;Stemmer, Giroux, & Joanette, 1994;Weylman, Brownell, Roman, & Gardner, 1989), and narrative (Brownell, Potter, Bihrle, & Gardner, 1986;Schneiderman, Murasugi, & Saddy, 1992;Wapner, Hamby, & Gardner, 1981).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It has been suggested that an underlying deficit in Theory of Mind (ToM) may be the cause of these pragmatic impairments (Brownell, Griffin, Winner, Friedman, & Happé, 2000;Griffin et al, 2006;Happé, Brownell, & Winner, 1999;Martin & McDonald, 2003;Winner et al, 1998). Briefly, ToM refers to the ability to infer the mental states of others.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Theory of Mind in adults with right hemisphere damage: What’s the story?

Weed

McGregor

Nielsen³

et al. 2010

Brain and Language

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a b s t r a c tWhy do people with right hemisphere damage (RHD) have difficulty with pragmatics and communication? One hypothesis has been that pragmatic impairment in RHD is the result of an underlying impairment in Theory of Mind (ToM): the ability to infer the mental states of others. In previous studies evaluating ToM abilities in people with RHD, researchers have used judgment tasks based on story or still cartoon stimuli. However, ToM is likely to draw on kinetic information as well, and these tasks ignore this aspect. The aim of this study was to assess ToM abilities in people with RHD using participants' evaluations of animated films with moving geometric shapes. Participants were presented with eight films of animated triangles. Four of the films represented the triangles as intentional agents with mental states, while the other four represented the triangles as simply inanimate, though moving, objects. Films were evaluated by both button-press response and by oral descriptions. Analysis of the transcriptions revealed that participants with RHD had a reduced ability to discriminate between the film categories, and a bias toward reduced mental-state ascription in the ToM condition.

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“…Performance was untimed, after a practice item established that participants understood the task; Theory of Mind—12 vignettes assessed judgment of story facts and first- and second-order beliefs of characters in social situations. 33 Each scenario was presented with Lie and Joke conditions that required contrasting decisions about a main character’s first-order beliefs, and the second-order beliefs that another character held of the main character. Second-order belief questions also required interpretation of whether the character was lying to avoid getting caught or joking to cover up embarrassment.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Social Cognition, Executive Functioning, and Neuroimaging Correlates of Empathic Deficits in Frontotemporal Dementia

Eslinger

Moore

Anderson

et al. 2011

Journal of Neuropsychiatry

163

137

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The authors investigated aspects of interpersonal sensitivity and perspective-taking in relation to empathy, social cognitions, and executive functioning in 26 frontotemporal dementia (FTD) patients. Behavioral-variant FTD (bvFTD) patients were significantly impaired on caregiver assessments of empathy, although self-ratings were normal. Progressive nonfluent aphasia and semantic-dementia samples were rarely abnormal. In bvFTD, empathy ratings were found to be correlated with social cognition and executive functioning measures, but not depression. Voxel-based morphometry revealed that reduced empathic perspective-taking was related to bifrontal and left anterior temporal atrophy, whereas empathic emotions were related to right medial frontal atrophy. Findings suggest that bvFTD causes multiple types of breakdown in empathy, social cognition, and executive resources, mediated by frontal and temporal disease.

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Distinguishing Lies from Jokes: Theory of Mind Deficits and Discourse Interpretation in Right Hemisphere Brain-Damaged Patients

Cited by 327 publications

References 21 publications

Executive function, mentalizing and humor in major depression

Executive function, mentalizing and humor in major depression

Theory of Mind in adults with right hemisphere damage: What’s the story?

Social Cognition, Executive Functioning, and Neuroimaging Correlates of Empathic Deficits in Frontotemporal Dementia

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