Sarcasm is often described as the lowest form of wit, but it seems you need the right kind of wits in the first place to be able to recognise it. Neuroscientists have identified the area of the brain that is the key to picking up on when someone is being sarcastic. They found that people with damage to the right sagittal stratum - a bundle of white matter that lies between the cerebral cortex and subcortical structures in the brain - are unable to detect sarcasm. Stroke patients with damage in the sagittal stratum in the right hemisphere of the brain (shown in the image above) were far poorer at detecting sarcasm when listening to sentences, according to the new research . Stroke survivors often suffer damage to this area of their brain and struggle to recognise when family and friends are being sarcastic. According to researchers at John Hopkins Medical School in Baltimore, the level of damage to this area of the brain seems to directly affect a persons ability to detect sarcasm. Used effectively, sarcasm can provide a devastating put down. But it turns out that it can also be a great motivator. Employees who have to put up with a sarcastic colleague or boss are more creative than those who don’t, a study has found. Researchers claim that being exposed to sarcasm required more ‘cognitive complexity’, or the ability to see things from more than one angle. The inherent humour in the comments also defused the tension that comes with anger. The study will surprise anybody whose boss relies on mocking his employees to get the best out of them. Professor Argye Hillis, a neurologist at John Hopkins Medical School who oversaw the study, said: 'Failure to recognize sarcasm can lead to important miscommunications. 'Few previous studies have identified brain lesions associated with impaired recognition of sarcasm. ' Percent damage to the sagittal stratum had the greatest weight and was the only independent predictor of sarcasm recognition.' Even for healthy people sarcasm can be hard to detect and some cultures use it far more than others. British comedy, for example, has a reputation for being notoriously sarcastic. Some characters like Blackadder, Chandler Bing in Friends and the cartoon teenager Daria, use it regularly. Sarcasm is well known as a complex form of communication as it requires the listener to understand the literal meaning of what someone is saying. They then also have to be able to detect the variation in pitch, stress on certain words, changes in pauses and lengthened syllables that make it differ from sincere speech. The popular Blackadder comedy series (above) tapped into the British love of sarcasm as a form of humour . During their study, which is published in the journal Neurocase, the researchers took fMRI scans of the brains of 24 stroke patients while they listened to 40 sentences of sincere or sarcastic speech. The patients were asked to identify whether a sentence was sarcastic. The researchers found that thsoe who performed least well in the tests tended to have damage to the right sagittal stratum. Five of the participants were found to have significant damage here were only able to correctly identify 22 per cent of the sarcastic comments. Chandler Bing, played by Matthew Perry (centre) was often annoyingly sarcastic in the hit US sitcom Friends, but his witticisms were often lost on his notoriously literal flatmate Joey, played by Matt LeBlanc (far left) Those that did not have damage to that structure were able to identify 50 per cent. According to LiveScience, Professor Hillis said that in the general population, most people should be able to identify 90 per cent of sarcastic comments. She said the findings could be used to help patients who have suffered brain damage regain the ability to recognise sarcastic cues and help families communicate to their loved ones more effectively. She told LiveScience:'Family and friends can be counseled to avoid sarcasm to prevent misunderstandings.'
Right sagittal stratum of brain is key to recognising sarcastic comments .
Neuroscientists at John Hopkins Medical School scanned the brains of 24 stroke patients and tested their ability to detect sarcasm in 40 sentences .
The sagittal stratum is a bundle of white matter below the cerebral cortex .
The findings may help treat stroke patients who struggle to detect sarcasm .