Thesis
Neurophysiological responses to humor and laughter: using fNIRS for positive affect detection
Master of Science (M.S.), Drexel University
Dec 2020
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17918/00000212
Abstract
This study identified changes in cortical hemodynamic activity associated with laughter perception and humor appreciation. The prefrontal cortex (PFC) has been linked to the detection of social ambiguity of vocalizations and to humor comprehension. Much work has used physiological sensors (such as heart rate, galvanic skin response, and electroencephalography) to measure positive affect responses in laboratory settings. However, hemodynamic responses of positive emotion is an understudied area. The use of a wearable and mobile neuroimaging technique, functional near infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS), that can be deployed in ecologically valid settings can enhance future research in applied social settings. This project investigated positive affect detection and humor appreciation via two affective processing tasks. This feasibility study used a multifaceted approach including behavioral and neurophysiological measures related to the perception of audio and video content. In these tasks, participants were asked to provide ratings for video and auditory content. The video content consisted of humorous and non-humorous video clips. The auditory content was different types of laughter (volitional and social). fNIRS, was used to track localized hemodynamic changes in the anterior prefrontal cortex that correspond to the affective states induced by the two tasks. For the audio task, the findings of the present study indicated an increase in the right ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) region when participants listened to spontaneous laughter compared to volitional laughter. Results of the video task showed significantly greater activity in the PFC for viewers of non-humorous videos compared to humorous videos.
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Details
- Title
- Neurophysiological responses to humor and laughter
- Creators
- Nina J. Rothstein
- Contributors
- John Kounios (Advisor)Hasan Ayaz (Advisor)
- Awarding Institution
- Drexel University
- Degree Awarded
- Master of Science (M.S.)
- Publisher
- Drexel University; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
- Number of pages
- vii, 38 pages
- Resource Type
- Thesis
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- Psychological and Brain Sciences (Psychology); College of Arts and Sciences; Drexel University
- Other Identifier
- 991014833149704721