In this project, a variety of methods (rating studies, measurement of psychophysiological responses, eye movements during reading, and measures of electrical brain activity) were used to investigate participants' emotional responses to verbal irony. People often use ironic language in everyday conversation. For example, if someone does something stupid, their friend may make the comment, “That was clever!”, which on the surface of it, is the opposite of what they actually mean. Given the risk of misunderstanding, it seems likely that using irony serves some other communicative function, such as evoking a particular emotional response in the recipient. The aim of this project is to investigate the emotional impact of verbal irony by measuring peoples’ immediate emotional responses to ironic comments, compared to the same message delivered literally. Skin conductance will be recorded as a direct measure of emotional arousal, to assess whether irony enhances or mutes the emotional force of an utterance when used to deliver criticism or praise, and whether the use of devices such as emoticons can influence this. In order to examine more specific emotional responses, eye movements while reading, and electrical brain activity while listening, will be used to assess whether people expect ironic comments to be more hurtful, or more amusing, than their literal counterparts. Findings will be used to develop theories of irony processing and to help understand conditions in which irony comprehension is impaired (eg, autism).

A range of data collection methods were employed. Experiments 1 and 2a involved participants watching videos or reading pieces of text, and then rating them on various dimensions. Experiment 2b involved investigating participants' emotional responses to text by measuring electrodermal activity (skin response), and facial EMG (specifically, the response of facial muscles responsible for smiling and frowning). In Experiments 3a and 4a, participants' eye movements were monitored while they were reading, and during Experiments 3b and 4b, participants' electrical brain responses (EEG) were recorded while they listened to recorded stimuli. Each study employed a convenience sample of participants from the University of Nottingham community.