The Effects of Humorous Literature on Emotion: A Pilot Project Comparing Children with Asperger's Syndrome Before and After Neurofeedback Training and Controls

Abstract

This study examined neurofeedback training, reading humorous stories, and emotion in children diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome (AS). In a pre-posttest design (before and after the story), positive and negative affect were compared between controls and two experimental groups of children with AS—those beginning training ( 40 sessions). Children with AS who had more than 40 sessions of neurofeedback responded the same way to the reading materials as the normally functioning controls with increases in positive affect and decreases in negative affect. Children with AS with less than 4 sessions of neurofeedback did not display this change.