Humor comprehension is increasingly recognized as showing parallels to more conventional creative cognition; yet our understanding of brain mechanisms underlying creative cognition in a humorous context is still limited. The present study addressed this issue by investigating functional patterns of EEG alpha activity while 93 participants viewed nonverbal humorous cartoons until they indicated having recognized the punch line, and subsequently vocalized their idea as to what constituted it. In a similar fashion, EEG was also assessed during performance of the Alternate Uses Task (AUT), in order to identify similarities and differences in EEG alpha activity implicated in conventional creative cognition vs. humor comprehension. Analyses revealed a pattern of robust task-related alpha power increases in both tasks, which were markedly more right-lateralized at ventral fronto-temporal sites in the humor task as compared to the AUT. Findings are interpreted in line with recent literature on the functional role of alpha activity in the creativity domain. Altogether, this study adds further evidence to the particular role of EEG alpha oscillations in creative cognition and supports the idea that conventional creative ideation and the comprehension of humor share neural mechanisms affiliated to creative cognition.

中文翻译：

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幽默理解和创造性认知：EEG alpha 活动表明的共享和不同的神经认知机制

幽默理解越来越被认为与更传统的创造性认知有相似之处；然而，我们对幽默语境中创造性认知背后的大脑机制的理解仍然有限。本研究通过调查脑电图 alpha 活动的功能模式解决了这个问题，同时 93 名参与者观看了非语言幽默卡通，直到他们表示已经认出妙语，然后说出他们对它的构成的想法。以类似的方式，在交替使用任务 (AUT) 的执行过程中也对脑电图进行了评估，以确定脑电图 alpha 活动与传统创造性认知与幽默理解有关的异同。分析揭示了两种任务中与任务相关的强大 alpha 功率增加模式，与 AUT 相比，在幽默任务中，在腹侧额颞叶部位明显更偏右。根据最近关于阿尔法活动在创造力领域中的功能作用的文献对调查结果进行了解释。总而言之，这项研究为脑电图 alpha 振荡在创造性认知中的特殊作用提供了进一步的证据，并支持传统创造性思维和幽默理解共享与创造性认知相关的神经机制的观点。