Not so funny. Or, maybe it’s just Ferd’nand?
July 11th, 2007Get it? Your ability to understand jokes decreases with age, according to researchers at Washington University. According to the Associated Press: “The research indicates that because older adults may have greater difficulty with cognitive flexibility, abstract reasoning and short-term memory, they also have greater difficulty with tests of humor comprehension.” The researchers 
tested a group of adults over age 65 and another group of graduate students. Participants were asked to complete jokes and pick the right punch line for verbal stories and comics. Younger adults did 6 percent better on verbal jokes, and 14 percent better on the comics. “There are basic cognitive mechanisms to understanding what’s going on in a joke,” Wash U psychology professor Brian Carpenter told the AP. “Older adults, because they may have deficits in some of those cognitive areas, may have a harder time understanding what a joke is about.”
Or, maybe their material just wasn’t very good? The comic strip used in the test was Ferd’nand, that goofy Danish fellow. Not funny at any age.
July 11th, 2007 at 1:16 pm
Another comic strip that I thought was (is) totally lame is Nancy.
BTW: I didn’t get it. Or was that the joke, that there was no joke? Ferd’nand wasn’t funny, so the connection wasn’t funny?
I need to see my therapist.
July 11th, 2007 at 4:12 pm
[…] Rhea, I didn’t get it. And I’m really bummed that I didn’t get it because I just read this at 50+digital: “The research indicates that because older adults may have greater difficulty with cognitive […]
July 13th, 2007 at 10:30 am
Mark;
Thanks for keeping the disgust on this article alive. I was incensed enough to retrieve the original report from the Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society. The “older adult” sample had a mean age of 78.3 and included individuals as old as 93! The undergraduate panel was “recruited from introductory psychology courses.” Even the most ardent champion of the capabilities of mature individuals would have expected some difference in the abilities to take tests between these extremely different samples (probably a bigger variable than perceptions of humor). There are many books, newsletters, and products on the market today that recognize some gradual deterioration in memory capabilities, for instance. But, the good news from this new wave of research is that until fifteen years ago we had to accept that deterioration. Now there is good evidence that exercising the brain can minimize those differences. And there are good products and practices that can help you keep your mind sharp.
John