Abstract

This article relates the structural and neural similarities of the sets of humor, irony, and metaphor (HIM sets) as heuristics that span self and self–other cognitive functions as they relate to theory of mind (ToM). These phenomena share common neural pathways in the medial prefrontal cortex, frontal gyrus, and tempero-parietal junction and they also share a similar operative pattern relating to relational incongruity embodied in temporal mental experience based on the human mind's embodied self–other intentional projection capacity. They also function as socio-cooperative interactions between individuals (egocentric) and groups (allocentric). That these share a similar structure, neural function, and social function seems to warrant the hypothesis that they are related to earlier evolutionary functions.

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