about the initial experiment
Our initial experiment was an attempt to see if we could use the modern methods of cognitive psychology and psycholinguistics to study humor perception as it happens in real time. We used an eye-tracker to track eye-movements and pupil size as people viewed New Yorker cartoons and rated them for funniness.
Below are eight of the forty-eight cartoons we used in the initial experiment. For five of the cartoons, you can see Quicktime videos that show in real-time where one person was looking while viewing the cartoon. Although the eye-movements may appear frantic, they are quite typical—the eyes usually move two to four times per second.
Our preliminary data analysis (from 16 University of Michigan undergraduates) suggests that the eyes may be a good window into the immediacy of humor perception: the amount of pupil dilation during cartoon viewing is a good predictor of how funny people think the cartoon is (the funnier the cartoon, the greater the pupil size increase), and these pupil size changes begin to happen in about a half second after the eyes enter a critical region of the cartoon. This incredible speed is comparable to the speed of language comprehension processes, and is consistent with a few studies of joke perception using other methods.
For more background on these studies, see The New York Times article "Toonology: Scientists Try to Find Out What's So Funny About Humor", September 28, 2004.
about the eye-tracker
The picture at the left shows Bob Mankoff, cartoon editor of The New Yorker, viewing cartoons with the eytracker. The eyetracker uses two high speed infrared digital cameras mounted on the head, capturing images of the eyes 250 times per second (once every four milliseconds). A third camera is mounted on the forehead and detects four infrared light arrays mounted on the corners of the computer screen, so that the eye tracker can detect head movement. Based on the position of the pupils and the head, the eye-tracker can calculate the gaze position on the screen within 10-15 pixels (within a half degree of visual angle). For more information on the equipment we use, visit the vendor's web site: SR-Research.
who we are
Richard Lewis, Associate Professor of Psychology and Linguistics, University of Michigan
Bob Mankoff, cartoon editor of The New Yorker, and creator of the Cartoon Bank
(Listen to Mankoff's interview on NPR's "Fresh Air")
(Read an interview with the Univ. of Michigan University Record)
David Bissig, Research Assistant, Department of Psychology, University of Michigan
Mason Smith, Associate Research Lab Specialist, Department of Psychology, University of Michigan
acknowledgements
Support has been provided by units in the University of Michigan College of Literature, Science, and Arts, coordinated by Charles Eisendrath, Director of the Knight-Wallace Fellows Program. The database of 68,000+ cartoons was provided by The New Yorker through an agreement with the university.
All cartoons © 2005 The New Yorker Magazine–Cartoonbank.com.
To see a movie of one person's eye movements while viewing the above cartoon, click here (5MB).
To see a movie of one person's eye movements while viewing the above cartoon, click here (3.4MB).
To see a movie of one person's eye movements while viewing the above cartoon, click here (8.2MB).
To see a movie of one person's eye movements while viewing the above cartoon, click here (8.5MB).
To see a movie of one person's eye movements while viewing the above cartoon, click here (5.8MB).
