To laugh or not to laugh: That is the question of humor techniques and sex differences

A humor structure comprises two essential stages: the setup and the punch line. The punch line stage is to provide the incongruity resolution that creates amusement in humor. The current article aimed to look into how humor is amusing and how it differs between the sexes. Functional and effective connectivity analyses in cognitive and affective neuroscience have facilitated the implications of humor comprehension, appreciation, and laughter responses. The processing of incongruity-resolution humor revealed effective connectivity from the amygdala to the precuneus (amygdala → precuneus). Conversely, the processing of nonsense humor demonstrated effective connectivity from the amygdala to the inferior frontal gyrus (amygdala → IFG). During humor appreciation, there was effective connectivity from the ventral tegmental area (VTA) to the amygdala (VTA → amygdala) for incongruity resolution humor and nonsense humor. Interestingly, women exhibited greater activation in the mesolimbic reward system than men.