Explicit and implicit abilities in humor processing in patients with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis

Sociocognitive impairment is well known in the relapsing-remitting form of multiple sclerosis (RR-MS). The purpose of the present study was to assess explicit and implicit humor abilities in this population. Based on clinical observation and contrary to the current cognitive model, we hypothesized that implicit performances (happy facial expressions) would be better than explicit ones (humor judgment assessed by explicit humor comprehension, subjective feeling of amusement as a conscious appreciation of funniness, and verbal justifications of funniness). Twenty-five RR-MS patients and twenty-five healthy participants completed the tasks. Their face was filmed during humor ratings. Patients' results suggest that 32% of them showed an impairment in explicit humor comprehension, with normal facial expressions. Both groups found great difficulty in justifying the cause of their amusement. All these results may suggest the existence of a supplementary implicit pathway in humor processing. The preservation of this implicit pathway may be advantageous for future remediation. Contrary to the current model, we found that the subjective feeling of amusement was preserved when comprehension was impaired. Further studies will be needed to clarify this component, and adjust the theoretical modeling.