The emotional impact of verbal irony: eye-tracking evidence for a two-stage process
In this paper we investigate the socio-emotional functions of verbal irony. Specifically, we use eye-tracking while reading to assess moment-to-moment processing of a character’s emotional response to ironic versus literal criticism. In Experiment 1, participants read stories describing a character...
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| Format: | Article |
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Elsevier
2017
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| Online Access: | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/37898/ |
| _version_ | 1848795556149723136 |
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| author | Filik, Ruth Brightman, Emily Gathercole, Chloe Leuthold, Hartmut |
| author_facet | Filik, Ruth Brightman, Emily Gathercole, Chloe Leuthold, Hartmut |
| author_sort | Filik, Ruth |
| building | Nottingham Research Data Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | In this paper we investigate the socio-emotional functions of verbal irony. Specifically, we use eye-tracking while reading to assess moment-to-moment processing of a character’s emotional response to ironic versus literal criticism. In Experiment 1, participants read stories describing a character being upset following criticism from another character. Results showed that participants initially more easily integrated a hurt response following ironic criticism; but later found it easier to integrate a hurt response following literal criticism. In Experiment 2, characters were instead described as having an amused response, which participants ultimately integrated more easily following ironic criticism. From this we propose a two-stage process of emotional responding to irony: Whilst readers may initially expect a character to be more hurt by ironic than literal criticism, they ultimately rationalise ironic criticism as being less hurtful, and more amusing. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T19:33:58Z |
| format | Article |
| id | nottingham-37898 |
| institution | University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T19:33:58Z |
| publishDate | 2017 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | nottingham-378982020-05-04T19:57:50Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/37898/ The emotional impact of verbal irony: eye-tracking evidence for a two-stage process Filik, Ruth Brightman, Emily Gathercole, Chloe Leuthold, Hartmut In this paper we investigate the socio-emotional functions of verbal irony. Specifically, we use eye-tracking while reading to assess moment-to-moment processing of a character’s emotional response to ironic versus literal criticism. In Experiment 1, participants read stories describing a character being upset following criticism from another character. Results showed that participants initially more easily integrated a hurt response following ironic criticism; but later found it easier to integrate a hurt response following literal criticism. In Experiment 2, characters were instead described as having an amused response, which participants ultimately integrated more easily following ironic criticism. From this we propose a two-stage process of emotional responding to irony: Whilst readers may initially expect a character to be more hurt by ironic than literal criticism, they ultimately rationalise ironic criticism as being less hurtful, and more amusing. Elsevier 2017-04-31 Article PeerReviewed Filik, Ruth, Brightman, Emily, Gathercole, Chloe and Leuthold, Hartmut (2017) The emotional impact of verbal irony: eye-tracking evidence for a two-stage process. Journal of Memory and Language, 93 . pp. 193-202. ISSN 0749-596X Language comprehension; irony; emotion; eye-tracking http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0749596X16301243 doi:10.1016/j.jml.2016.09.006 doi:10.1016/j.jml.2016.09.006 |
| spellingShingle | Language comprehension; irony; emotion; eye-tracking Filik, Ruth Brightman, Emily Gathercole, Chloe Leuthold, Hartmut The emotional impact of verbal irony: eye-tracking evidence for a two-stage process |
| title | The emotional impact of verbal irony: eye-tracking evidence for a two-stage process |
| title_full | The emotional impact of verbal irony: eye-tracking evidence for a two-stage process |
| title_fullStr | The emotional impact of verbal irony: eye-tracking evidence for a two-stage process |
| title_full_unstemmed | The emotional impact of verbal irony: eye-tracking evidence for a two-stage process |
| title_short | The emotional impact of verbal irony: eye-tracking evidence for a two-stage process |
| title_sort | emotional impact of verbal irony: eye-tracking evidence for a two-stage process |
| topic | Language comprehension; irony; emotion; eye-tracking |
| url | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/37898/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/37898/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/37898/ |