1,721,020 research outputs found
Comprehension of irony in social situations: new evidences from P200 and "pragmatic-semantic" P600 ERP effects
No full textObjective: To understand ironic meanings, the interaction of verbal and non verbal information within a situational social context is necessary. The analysis of situational cues, including contextual and emotional non verbal cues, is considered crucial for the understanding of ironic intention
and connected implied meanings (Utsumi, 2000; Wakusawa, 2007).
However, previous ERP studies did not focus on such interactive dimension with the exception of the prosodic component (Cornejo et al., 2007; Regel et al., 2009; Balconi & Amenta, 2007, 2009).
Participants and Methods: In this study we aimed to investigate irony elaboration by providing subjects with socially relevant contextual cues. Through auditory stimulation, enforced by iconic representation of the
situational context, we studied ERP responses to ironic and non-ironic remarks. 20 subjects explored 50 scripts where the final remark could reach either an ironic or a non ironic effect.
Results: ERP responses were analyzed as a function of prosody and type of sentence. Waves morphology indicated a clear P200 component followed by a P600-effect. ANOVA performed on peak amplitudes indicated that P200 and P600 increasing for ironic sentences were statistically significant.
Conclusions: Our data indicate that emotional components of prosody are early processed and influence the interpretation of upcoming information, as evidenced by the P200 effect indicating an early categorization of ironic sentences as hedonically negative (Carretié et al., 2001; Alexandrov, 2007). On the other side, cognitive costs required to integrate
multiple information (iconic, verbal, prosodic) into a coherent representation of discourse are evidenced by the increase of pragmatic-P600 effect in ironic condition (Kuperberg, 2007)
Pragmatic and semantic information interplay in ironic meaning computation: evidence from "pragmatic-semantic" P600 effect
No full textObjective: It is generally assumed that, in order to derive the meaning
of complex communicative phenomena, such as irony, contextual and common knowledge should enter the comprehension process (Hagoort et al., 2004). Recently, semantic-P600 ERP effect has been associated to figurative language comprehension, in general, and irony in particular (Kutas et al., 2006; Regel, 2006), suggesting that pragmatic interpretation of ironic sentences requires specific inferential processes in order to derive contextual-compatible meanings.
Participants and Methods: In our study, we used ERPs to compare familiar ironic and literal sentences processing in order to asses if ironic and literal meaning comprehension could involve similar or different processes and whether peculiar components of ironic processing could be identified. Fifteen subjects read 100 short stories ending either literally or ironically.
Results: Morphological ERP analyses showed a similar pattern of activation
for irony and literality in the initial phases of comprehension, and a positive deflection, for both conditions, at mean latencies of 600ms, with an increased amplitude in anterior areas. The ANOVA performed found no difference relative to this positive component throughout the conditions, while confirming its increase in anterior areas.
Conclusions: Our data showed that familiar irony processing seem not to differ qualitatively from non-ironic comprehension since, for both conditions, late processes of contextual and pragmatic information implementation in sentence meaning seem to be involved (Bornkessel-
Schlesewsky, 2008). Furthermore, the increase of this “semantic-pragmatic”
P600 in anterior areas suggests frontal lobes have a major role
in taking into account background knowledge and speakers’ communicative
intents in meaning co-construction
Neuropsychological processes in verbal irony comprehension: an event-related potentials (ERPs) investigation
No full textObjective: Irony is part of our daily experience, that is probably the reason why a lot of studies have been trying to define its nature and the
way we are able to understand the pragmatic intentions lying behind ironic communication. This study addresses the issue of pragmatic comprehension
of language by analysing the differences or similarities in processing literal and non-literal (ironic) language. The aim of the study
is specifically to investigate neuropsychological correlates (ERPs) of irony decoding. Previous outcomes of RT (Reading Times) responses
studies showed that non-conventional ironies took longer to process than literal interpretations of the same sentences. That seems to indicate irony
comprehension requires more complicated processes. ERPs studies on non-literal language processing revealed the presence of N400, a negative
component associated to semantic integration of the discourse (Kutas & Federmeier, 2002).
Participants and Methods: In our study, 120 sentences, equally shared in literal and ironic (with true or false content) trials, were presented to 10 subjects.
Results: ERPs morphological analyses showed, for any trials, two negative peaks at 300ms (N3) and 400ms (N4) latencies, with an amplitude increase for both components in the ironic condition. These findings
suggest that literal and ironic decoding is qualitatively similar, but irony comprehension requires extra inferential processes thus resulting
in an increasing of the demand for the cognitive system.
Conclusions: Implications on the opportunity of a distinction between literal and figurative language, as far as comprehension processes are concerned, are discussed
Emotions Recognition in Verbal Irony: Evidence from Self-report and Electrophysiological (ERPs) Measures
No full textDecoding di componenti emotive nella comprensione dell'ironia verbale e loro relazione con le abilità empatiche nell'alcolismo cronico
No full textIsn’t it ironic? An analysis on the elaboration of ironic sentences with ERPs
No full textAlthough frequent in our everyday conversations, irony is a complex pragmatic phenomenon involving specific linguistic, communicative and cognitive abilities in order to be fully understood. In this study we examined the pragmatic comprehension of ironical and non ironical language by analysing event-related potentials (ERPs) of irony decoding process. We asked 12 subjects to listen to 240 sentences with a counterfactual vs. non-counterfactual content and spoken with
ironical vs. neutral prosody. ERPs morphological analysis showed a negative deflection peaking in central-frontal and parietal areas at about 460ms post stimulus onset (N400) for all the conditions. Statistical analyses applied to peak amplitudes
showed no statistically significant differences between the conditions as a function of the type of sentence (ironical vs. non ironical) and the content of ironical sentences (counterfactual vs. non counterfactual). An increase of N400 related
to ironical sentences was nonetheless observed. The absence of an N400 effect may indicate that irony is not treated as a semantic anomaly, although, the observed differences in amplitude could be probably attributed to a higher requirement for the cognitive system in order to integrate contrasting and complex lexical, prosodic and contextual cues
Riconoscimento delle emozioni in espressioni facciali, script e video nell'ASD e Asperger
No full text- …
