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People aged over 65 may find it harder to understand jokes
Grumpy old men may not be able to help it, as age could affect their sense of humour, scientists have found.
A study by Washington University in St Louis found older people find it harder to understand jokes than students.
The authors say the finding should be taken seriously as laughing has been linked to health benefits such as boosting circulation.
The findings were published in the Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society.
The researchers tested 40 people aged over 65, and 40 undergraduates.
The participants had to complete jokes and cartoon strips, choosing the correct punchline or final picture from a selection of options.
Choosing the punchline for jokes, undergraduates performed 6% better than older people, and completing cartoon strips they were 14% better.
Cognitive declines
One such joke in the test was: "A businessman is riding the subway after a hard day at the office. A young man sits down next to him and says, 'Call me a doctor, call me a doctor'. The businessman asks, 'What's the matter, are you sick?'.
The participants were expected to correctly identify the punch line as: "The young man says, 'I just graduated from medical school'."
The report's authors said the results suggested that age-related declines in short-term memory, abstract reasoning and moving between different thought trains may affect humour comprehension in older people.
Author Professor Brian Carpenter said: "This wasn't a study about what people find funny. It was a study about whether they get what's supposed to be funny.
"There are basic cognitive mechanisms to understanding what's going on in a joke.
"Older adults, because they may have deficits in some of those cognitive areas, may have a harder time understanding what a joke is about."
Health benefits
Dr Chris Moulin, a cognitive neuropsychologist at the University of Leeds said it was "entirely feasible" that people's understanding of jokes could change with age.
He said: "Many jokes require us to simultaneously have two ideas in mind, such as two meanings of the word 'call' in the example joke, and older people may find it difficult to do this."
And he said having a sense of humour was important to health because laughter can maintain wellbeing by boosting levels of so-called "happy hormones."
But he warned that if the jokes used in the study used modern humour, then the younger people might find them funnier and understand them better anyway which would affect the results.
Grumpy old men may not be able to help it, as age could affect their sense of humour, scientists have found.
A study by Washington University in St Louis found older people find it harder to understand jokes than students.
The authors say the finding should be taken seriously as laughing has been linked to health benefits such as boosting circulation.
The findings were published in the Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society.
The researchers tested 40 people aged over 65, and 40 undergraduates.
The participants had to complete jokes and cartoon strips, choosing the correct punchline or final picture from a selection of options.
Choosing the punchline for jokes, undergraduates performed 6% better than older people, and completing cartoon strips they were 14% better.
Cognitive declines
One such joke in the test was: "A businessman is riding the subway after a hard day at the office. A young man sits down next to him and says, 'Call me a doctor, call me a doctor'. The businessman asks, 'What's the matter, are you sick?'.
The participants were expected to correctly identify the punch line as: "The young man says, 'I just graduated from medical school'."
The report's authors said the results suggested that age-related declines in short-term memory, abstract reasoning and moving between different thought trains may affect humour comprehension in older people.
Author Professor Brian Carpenter said: "This wasn't a study about what people find funny. It was a study about whether they get what's supposed to be funny.
"There are basic cognitive mechanisms to understanding what's going on in a joke.
"Older adults, because they may have deficits in some of those cognitive areas, may have a harder time understanding what a joke is about."
Health benefits
Dr Chris Moulin, a cognitive neuropsychologist at the University of Leeds said it was "entirely feasible" that people's understanding of jokes could change with age.
He said: "Many jokes require us to simultaneously have two ideas in mind, such as two meanings of the word 'call' in the example joke, and older people may find it difficult to do this."
And he said having a sense of humour was important to health because laughter can maintain wellbeing by boosting levels of so-called "happy hormones."
But he warned that if the jokes used in the study used modern humour, then the younger people might find them funnier and understand them better anyway which would affect the results.
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