damage to this part of the brain can result in reduced ability to comprehend and/or produce humor
Right hemisphere brain damage For the majority of the nineteenth century, the left brain hemisphere was the key focus of clinical research on language disorders (Brookshire, 2007).[2] In the twentieth century, focus gradually shifted to include right hemisphere damage (Brookshire, 2007).[2] It is now well established that language and cognition can be seriously impaired by unilateral right hemisphere brain damage.[40] Specific cognitive tests can help diagnose the existence of right hemisphere brain damage and differentiate symptoms from those of left hemisphere damage.[41] Unlike the aphasias, caused by left hemisphere damage and generally resulting in focused language deficits, right hemisphere brain damage can result in a variety of diffuse deficits which complicate formal testing of this disorder (Brookshire, 2007).[2] These formal tests assess areas such as understanding humor, metaphors, sarcasm, facial expression, and prosody.[23] However, not all individuals with right hemisphere brain damage have problems in language or communication and some may have no discernible symptoms.[40] Indeed, about half of patients with right hemisphere damage have intact communication abilities (Brookshire, 2007).[2][42]
Sadness According to the American Journal of Psychiatry, sadness has been found to be associated with "increases in bilateral activity within the vicinity of the middle and posterior temporal cortex, lateral cerebellum, cerebellar vermis, midbrain, putamen, and caudate."[9] Jose V. Pardo has his M.D and Ph.D and leads a research program in cognitive neuroscience. Using positron emission tomography (PET) Pardo and his colleagues were able to provoke sadness among seven normal men and women by asking them to think about sad things. They observed increased brain activity in the bilateral inferior and orbitofrontal cortex.[10] In a study that induced sadness in subjects by showing emotional film clips, the feeling was correlated with significant increases in regional brain activity, especially in the prefrontal cortex, in the region called Brodmann's area 9, and the thalamus. A significant increase in activity was also observed in the bilateral anterior temporal structures.[11]