Sense of Humor as a Mediator during Incidental Learning of Humor-Related Material

Abstract

Variations in attention during intentional or incidental learning were investigated. Materials for intentional learning were presented to 165 college students in conjunction with peripheral cues of humorous and non-humorous materials presented for incidental learning. An hypothesized funneling effect, an attentional shift during learning to the incidental materials, was not found for humorous or non-humorous materials and intentional recall of materials. Subjects with high self-reported sense of humor attended significantly more than subjects with a low sense of humor to incidental humorous materials. Further, subjects with high sense of humor showed significantly greater recall of incidental humorous materials than subjects with low sense of humor. A one-item self-report scale of sense of humor provided behavioral discrimination. The complexity of intentional and incidental learning and the effects of sense of humor on attention to intentional and incidental materials were discussed.