Mapping the ‘funny bone’: neuroanatomical correlates of humor creativity in professional comedians

Abstract

Abstract What are the neuroanatomical correlates of expertise in a specific creative domain? Professional comedians, amateurs and controls underwent a T1 MRI anatomical scan. Measures of cortical surface area (gyrification and sulcal depth) and thickness were extracted for each participant. Compared to controls, professional comedians had a greater cortical surface area in the left inferior temporal gyrus, angular gyrus, precuneus and right medial prefrontal cortex. These regions have been previously implicated in abstract, divergent thinking and the default-mode network. The high degree of overlap between the regions of greater surface area in professional comedians with the regions showing greater activation in the same group during comedy improvisation in our previous work (particularly the temporal regions and angular gyrus) suggests that these regions may be specifically involved in humor creativity.