Comprensión humorística y comprensión causal: Tendiendo puentes a través del funcionamiento cognitivo

Abstract

Este artículo presenta los resultados de un estudio piloto sobre la relación entre comprensión humorística y comprensión causal en la primera infancia. A veinte niños entre los tres y los cinco años, les fueron presentados ocho chistes gráficos con incongruencias posibles e imposibles. Los resultados mostraron que al escoger entre tres opciones: incongruente, congruente y neutra para componer la imagen que les pareciera más graciosa, la mayoría de los niños eligió la alternativa incongruente. El análisis de la producción verbal mostró que la incongruencia disparó más funcionamientos cognitivos de alto orden que las otras dos opciones. Adicionalmente, los niños ofrecieron razones para explicar las incongruencias posibles y tendieron a rechazar las violaciones imposibles, ofreciendo en ocasiones, alternativas para “ajustar” la situación a la regularidad física. Los resultados sugieren que el chiste gráfico constituye un recurso metodológico apropiado para explorar los funcionamientos cognitivos de los niños pequeños y las relaciones entre su comprensión humorística y su comprensión causal.

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