Researchers think they may have discovered a section of the brain that is integral to understanding sarcasm. 

… But some brain-damaged people can’t comprehend sarcasm, and Israeli researchers think it’s because a specific brain region has gone dark.

The region, according to the researchers, handles the task of detecting hidden meaning, a crucial component of sarcasm. If that part of the brain is out of commission, the irony doesn’t come through, the scientists report in the May issue of Neuropsychology.

“People with prefrontal brain damage suffer from difficulties in understanding other people’s mental states, and they lack empathy,” said study co-author Simone Shamay-Tsoory, a researcher at the University of Haifa. “Therefore, they can’t understand what the speaker really is talking about, and get only the literal meaning.”

While there’s still lots of room left to debate “nature” versus “nuture”, I’m fascinated by the number of things like this that are built into the brain.

Link found via Slashdot.