Check out this fascinating article about sarcasm and how the ability to detect sarcasm develops in the brain ...
Here's an excerpt ...
"The smirking put-down that buries its barb by stating the opposite, requires a nifty mental trick that lies at the heart of social relations: figuring out what others are thinking. Those who lose the ability, whether through a head injury or the frontotemporal dementias afflicting the patients in Rankin's study, just do not get it when someone says during a hurricane, "Nice weather we're having."
http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/06/04/healthscience/03sarc.php
All user-generated information on this site is the opinion of its author only and is not a substitute for medical advice or treatment for any medical conditions. Members and guests are responsible for their own posts and the potential consequences of those posts detailed in our Terms of Service.
Add a Comment1 Comments
(that's easier to spell than parahippocampal gyrus).
So, what is the bottom line? Are we supposed to be grateful that we can wield and field the sarcasm, or socially concerned about those who can't? Frankly, my dear...haha!
That was a very interesting article. Every day, I have to field (and I sometimes wield) sarcastic remarks that I know are made in an effort to deflect a frustrating moment with humor. My father was the Grand Poobah of Supreme Sarcasm, inherited from his father, I'm sure, and I probably inherited it from them both. hmmm...I know my forehead is rather high.
Wouldn't that make me an alien?
But, really, folks - is there a relationship between semantic dementia and Alzheimer's? I wonder if that's in the next study.
June 5, 2008 - 6:03pmThis Comment