Fuzzy Causal Patterns of Humor and Jokes for Cognitive and Affective Computing
Yingxu Wang · International Journal of Cognitive Informatics and Natural Intelligence · 2014
Humor is an advanced emotional and cognitive ability of mankind that involves complex semantic inference and deep passionate appreciation. This paper presents the cognitive foundations of amusement and a general theory of humor based on the recent advances in cognitive informatics, cognitive linguistics, cognitive computing, and fuzzy causal analyses. A theory of fuzzy false causation (FFC) is introduced that reveals humor and jokes as false causations in fuzzy causal inferences. Base on the FFC theory, a general pattern of humor (GPH) is formalized for analyzing the settings and appreciations of a set of sample jokes. A formal measurement of the degree of amusement in jokes and humor is quantitatively described towards the rational explanation of jokes based on cognitive affective assessment. The formal models of humor and jokes enable machines for humor comprehension and appreciation in artificial intelligence, cognitive computing, computational intelligence, and cognitive robots.