Children’s processing of emotion in ironic language
In the present study we addressed two novel questions: 1) is children’s irony appreciation and processing related to their empathy skills? and 2) is children’s processing of a speaker’s ironic meaning best explained by a modular or interactive theory? Participants were 31 8- and 9-year-old children....
| Main Authors: | , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Frontiers Media S.A.
2013-10-01
|
| Series: | Frontiers in Psychology |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00691/full |
| _version_ | 1828416630854516736 |
|---|---|
| author | Andrew eNicholson Juanita M Whalen Penny M Pexman |
| author_facet | Andrew eNicholson Juanita M Whalen Penny M Pexman |
| author_sort | Andrew eNicholson |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | In the present study we addressed two novel questions: 1) is children’s irony appreciation and processing related to their empathy skills? and 2) is children’s processing of a speaker’s ironic meaning best explained by a modular or interactive theory? Participants were 31 8- and 9-year-old children. We used a variant of the visual world paradigm to assess children’s processing of ironic and literal evaluative remarks; in this paradigm children’s cognition is revealed through their actions and eye gaze. Results in this paradigm showed that children’s irony appreciation and processing were correlated with their empathy development, suggesting that empathy or emotional perspective taking may be important for development of irony comprehension. Further, children’s processing of irony was consistent with an interactive framework, in which children consider ironic meanings in the earliest moments, as speech unfolds. These results provide important new insights about development of this complex aspect of emotion recognition. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-10T14:04:57Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-ef5da4e6e707413093671bec5d6939c5 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1664-1078 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-10T14:04:57Z |
| publishDate | 2013-10-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Psychology |
| spelling | doaj.art-ef5da4e6e707413093671bec5d6939c52022-12-22T01:45:41ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Psychology1664-10782013-10-01410.3389/fpsyg.2013.0069163187Children’s processing of emotion in ironic languageAndrew eNicholson0Juanita M Whalen1Penny M Pexman2University of CalgaryUniversity of CalgaryUniversity of CalgaryIn the present study we addressed two novel questions: 1) is children’s irony appreciation and processing related to their empathy skills? and 2) is children’s processing of a speaker’s ironic meaning best explained by a modular or interactive theory? Participants were 31 8- and 9-year-old children. We used a variant of the visual world paradigm to assess children’s processing of ironic and literal evaluative remarks; in this paradigm children’s cognition is revealed through their actions and eye gaze. Results in this paradigm showed that children’s irony appreciation and processing were correlated with their empathy development, suggesting that empathy or emotional perspective taking may be important for development of irony comprehension. Further, children’s processing of irony was consistent with an interactive framework, in which children consider ironic meanings in the earliest moments, as speech unfolds. These results provide important new insights about development of this complex aspect of emotion recognition.http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00691/fullEmpathyChildreneye gazeVerbal ironyspeaker intent |
| spellingShingle | Andrew eNicholson Juanita M Whalen Penny M Pexman Children’s processing of emotion in ironic language Frontiers in Psychology Empathy Children eye gaze Verbal irony speaker intent |
| title | Children’s processing of emotion in ironic language |
| title_full | Children’s processing of emotion in ironic language |
| title_fullStr | Children’s processing of emotion in ironic language |
| title_full_unstemmed | Children’s processing of emotion in ironic language |
| title_short | Children’s processing of emotion in ironic language |
| title_sort | children s processing of emotion in ironic language |
| topic | Empathy Children eye gaze Verbal irony speaker intent |
| url | http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00691/full |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT andrewenicholson childrensprocessingofemotioninironiclanguage AT juanitamwhalen childrensprocessingofemotioninironiclanguage AT pennympexman childrensprocessingofemotioninironiclanguage |