The Cognitive Process of Humor in Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder: Structural Incongruity and Elaboration of Stimulus

Abstract

This study investigated the characteristics of humor in individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), focusing on structural incongruity and stimulus elaboration. ‘Structural incongruity’ refers to the peculiarity of a situation, and it is considered necessary for one to experience humor. ‘Stimulus elaboration’ involves inferences and thoughts related to the situation and influences the amount of humor experienced. In the present study, 19 individuals with ASD and 46 typically developing (TD) control participants rated items for the humor variable of structural incongruity, and for concept level and schema level. They also rated the items for variable elaboration. Scores for structural incongruity at the concept level were higher than scores at the schema level among TD individuals, while there was no difference between scores at the concept level vs. at the schema level for ASD individuals. ASD individuals also gave higher ratings to “non-social” items than did TD individuals, in elaboration.