Is Sarcasm the Highest Form of Humor?

Some people (often our mothers) describe it as “the lowest form of humor.” Some would counter that sarcasm is the highest form of wit, and a new study from Katherine P. Rankin, a neuropsychologist and assistant professor in the Memory and Aging Center at the University of California, San Francisco, seems to back up the theory.

Sarcasm, the witty barb that makes its point by stating the opposite, requires that the intended victim – or any nearby hanger-on – be able to figure out what the attacker is thinking. It requires a degree of social relations. Sadly, and interestingly enough, those who have suffered a head injury, or suffer from one of the frontotemperal dementias, are simply unable to comprehend sarcasm.

Dr. Rankin’s study used a test that was developed in 2002 called the Awareness of Social Inference Test, or Tasit. It is made up of a number of recorded exchanges, which on paper seem relatively straightforward, but when delivered are done in a sarcastic style. It would, to any able-brained individual, would seem as if out of some campy sitcom. Dr. Rankin said of the study that she "...was testing people’s ability to detect sarcasm based entirely on paralinguistic cues, the manner of expression."

For example, one exchange depicts a man walking in to the room of a colleague to inform her that he cannot take a class of hers that he had been down to take. In reply, Ruth, the colleague, says “Don’t be silly, you shouldn’t feel bad about it. I know you’re busy — it probably wasn’t fair to expect you to squeeze it in.” On paper, it sounds generous enough, but it is delivered in such a manner that there is an obvious underlying meaning.

Through the study, Dr. Rankin found that those people with only mild Alzheimer’s disease were able to detect the note of sarcasm, but that it went totally undetected by those afflicted with semantic dementia, a progressive neurodegenerative disorder characterized by loss of semantic memory in both the verbal and non-verbal domains.

“I was testing people’s ability to detect sarcasm based entirely on paralinguistic cues, the manner of expression,” Dr. Rankin said. “You would think that because they lose language, they would pay close attention to the paralinguistic elements of the communication,” she added, referring to those suffering from semantic dementia.

However, the biggest surprise came when Dr. Rankin found that, instead of being detected by the left hemisphere, which is designed around language and social interactions, the MRI scans revealed that sarcasm was detected by the parahippocampal gyrus, located in the right hemisphere of the brain. “The right parahippocampal gyrus must be involved in detecting more than just visual context — it perceives social context as well,” Dr. Rankin said.

As to how quickly we pick up on sarcasm, and whether this has anything to do with her research, when Dr. Rankin presented her findings at the American Academy of Neurology, said; “We all have strengths and weaknesses in our cognitive abilities, including our ability to detect social cues. There may be volume-based differences in certain regions that explain variations in all sorts of cognitive abilities.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/03/health/research/03sarc.html?ei=5087&em=&en=104a05b0bb21fa9c&ex=1212638400&adxnnlx=1212595736-Lr/M/OYeoGo/0nxbd041KA&pagewanted=print

Comments

[tigerlily]

Questions: Is sarcasm humor? I understand the meaning behind sarcasm, yet I don't see the humor in sarcasm. Most of the time sarcasm is mean and the perpetrator has a "get of jail free card" in the excuse of "I was only kidding. It was a joke. You're too sensitive." I put up with this for years and finally turned the tables by saying "My feelings are hurt. There is nothing overly sensitive about being hurt when someone says something mean in jest or not. If you think what you said was a joke, then you are insensitive to other people's feelings." Needless to say we haven't talked in several years. Yipee!
Wonder: I wonder if a study of the brains of people who frequently use sarcasm would show something similar to this study, an organic problem in which they can't empathize or relate directly. Isn't there a part of the brain which regulates empathy? Maybe even a part which regulates honesty or directness since sarcasm to me appears to be a form of dishonesty or an indirect way of stating truths. I'd rather have someone be cruelly honest and acknowledge such then be amusingly cruel and deceptive about it. At least that way we are both honest and can work things out or not. Sarcasm doesn't allow for that. The only thing almost intelligent about sarcasm is the perb usually come out unscathed and above reproach because they didn't mean it, they were kidding. Mean while the victim gets it on both ends, being the butt of the joke and the spoil sport for objecting. Sarcasm is the lowest form of communication and the highest form of self veneration.