The humour effect: differential processing and privileged retrieval

The effects of humour on memory and heart rate were explored as a function of experimental design. In within-subject manipulations, original humorous cartoons were better remembered than the literal translations and weird cartoons, whereas literal and weird cartoons were equally well remembered. Good recall of humorous cartoons occurred at the expense of recall of non-humorous cartoons. Secondary heart-rate deceleration was larger in response to original cartoons than to literal and weird cartoons. Neither the memory nor the heart-rate effects were found in between-subjects comparisons. The results were consistent with differential processing resulting from within-list contrasts. However, retrieval processes also favoured good recall of humorous material.