Fig. 1.

Examples of captionless cartoon stimuli representing each experimental condition. Non-humorous control (A, C) and humorous (B, D) cartoon categories were designed to share structural elements. Surface features of humorous cartoons were rearranged to create familiar congruous (A) or unresolvably incongruous (C) non-humorous control scenarios. Control familiar scenarios contained congruous elements, while familiar humorous scenarios contained incongruities that could be labelled as humorous based on prior cultural associations (compare panels A and B). Control novel scenarios contained incongruities that were not resolvable, while humorous scenarios contained surface incongruities that were ultimately resolvable in a surprising and amusing way (compare panels C and D). Within the category of humorous cartoons, familiar humorous scenarios had more prominent stock elements of farce and slapstick with incongruities based on characters' physical actions or attributes; while novel humorous scenarios had incongruities based on incompatible concepts or beliefs, and resolution required an active perspective shift by the viewer (compare panels B and D).