Gender differences in the neural correlates of humor processing: Implications for different processing modes

Humor is a complex phenomenon of human social cognition with large inter-individual variability. Gender differences in emotion processing are a common finding in functional neuroimaging studies, and have been documented in behavioral studies of humor, but have received limited attention in functional neuroimaging studies on humor. Using blood oxygenation level dependent (BOLD) contrasts with high-field (31) functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMR) we investigated 29 healthy subjects (14 female, 15 male) during the processing of humorous cartoons. In women, the ventral system implicated in detection and appraisal of emotion was activated, including amygdala, insula, and Anterior Cingulate Cortex (ACC). Men showed activation in both the ventral and dorsal processing systems. The results indicate that women process humor though limbic reactivity, involving appraisal of its emotional features, while men apply more evaluative, executive resources to humor processing. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.