We studied irony comprehension and emotional reactions to irony in dysphoric and control participants. Electroencephalography (EEG) and facial electromyography (EMG) were measured when spoken conversations were presented with pictures that provided either congruent (non-ironic) or incongruent (ironic) contexts. In a separate session, participants evaluated the congruency and valence of the stimuli. While both groups rated ironic stimuli funnier than non-ironic stimuli, the control group rated all the stimuli funnier than the dysphoric group. N400-like activity, P600, and EMG activity indicating smiling were larger after the ironic stimuli than the non-ironic stimuli for both groups. Further, in the dysphoric group the irony modulation was evident in the electrode cluster over the right hemisphere, while no such difference in lateralization was observed in the control group. The results suggest a depression-related alteration in the P600 response associated to irony comprehension, but no alterations were found in emotional reactivity specifically related to irony.

中文翻译：

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烦躁和非烦躁参与者对讽刺的脑电活动和面部肌电图反应

我们研究了烦躁和控制参与者的反讽理解和对反讽的情绪反应。当用提供一致（非讽刺）或不一致（讽刺）上下文的图片呈现口语对话时，测量脑电图 (EEG) 和面部肌电图 (EMG)。在单独的会议中，参与者评估了刺激的一致性和效价。虽然两组都认为讽刺刺激比非讽刺刺激更有趣，但对照组对所有刺激的评价都比烦躁组更有趣。两组的 N400 样活动、P600 和 EMG 活动表明微笑在讽刺刺激后比非讽刺刺激更大。此外，在烦躁组中，讽刺调制在右半球的电极簇中很明显，而在对照组中没有观察到这种侧化差异。结果表明，与反讽理解相关的 P600 反应与抑郁相关的改变有关，但在与反讽相关的情绪反应中没有发现任何改变。