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The effects of normal aging on humor appreciation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 August 2003

Prathiba Shammi  and
Donald T. Stuss
Prathiba Shammi
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada The Rotman Research Institute, Baycrest Centre for Geriatric Care, Toronto, Canada
Donald T. Stuss*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada The Rotman Research Institute, Baycrest Centre for Geriatric Care, Toronto, Canada Department of Medicine (Neurology, Rehabilitation Science), University of Toronto, Canada
*
Reprint requests to: D.T. Stuss, Ph.D., The Rotman Research Institute, Baycrest Centre for Geriatric Care, 3560 Bathurst Street, Toronto, Ontario, M6A 2E1 Canada. E-mail: dstuss@rotman-baycrest.on.ca
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Abstract

The importance of humor in healthy aging is being recognized. We compared elderly and young participants on their comprehension and appreciation of, and reaction to, verbal and nonverbal humor tests. Cognitive processes—working memory, cognitive flexibility, verbal abstraction, and visual scanning—were studied in relation to humor. Results indicated a relative deficit in the elderly in the cognitive comprehension of humor—selecting punch lines to jokes and in a cartoon array test. Measures of cognitive function correlated with humor comprehension. In contrast to this deficit in comprehension, the elderly showed intact affective appreciation and emotional reactiveness. Because of the hypothesis of frontal lobe degeneration as a basis for changes with aging, we compared the elderly to patients with focal frontal lesions. In this comparison, the elderly were significantly better than the patients in their comprehension of humor. They also displayed intact appreciation of humor compared to patients with frontal lesions. This preliminary study suggests that preserved affective responsiveness may underlie the success in using humor as a coping mechanism in the elderly. (JINS, 2003, 9, 855–863.)

Keywords

HumorAgingFrontal lobeWorking memoryMental shifting
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society , Volume 9 , Issue 6 , September 2003 , pp. 855 - 863
Copyright
Copyright © The International Neuropsychological Society 2003

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Footnotes

4

Currently in the Department of Psychology, Baycrest Centre for Geriatric Care, Toronto, Canada

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