Timing is Everything: Temporal Scaffolding of Semantic Surprise in Humor
Updated 7 h ago · first seen 11 Sept 2026
paper_01M294G5TA64N34K8AQYXZCM64
- Published
- 11 Sept 2026
- T1 · 7 h ago
- arXiv
- 2605.00143
- T1 · 7 h ago
- Category
- cs.CL
- T1 · 7 h ago
Abstract
Humor is a fundamental cognitive phenomenon in which humans derive pleasure from the expectation violations and their resolution, exemplifying the brain's dynamic capacity for predictive processing. Classical humor theories emphasize semantic incongruity as the primary driver of amusement, yet overlook temporal dynamics despite comedians' intuition that "timing is everything." The extent to which temporal structure contributes to humor appreciation and how it interacts with semantic content remains poorly understood. Here, we propose the Dual Prediction Violation (DPV) framework to capture the interplay between content and timing. By analyzing 828 professional Chinese stand-up performances, we show that temporal features substantially outweigh semantic incongruity in predicting audience appreciation. Specifically, we find that peak semantic violations matter more than average incongruity levels, and pauses systematically lengthen before high-surprise punchlines--a strategic coupling that distinguishes successful from unsuccessful performances. These findings reframe humor as temporally scaffolded, where timing and semantic content operate in strategic coordination rather than independently. Our DPV framework bridges humor theory with predictive processing, demonstrating that temporal structure plays a central role in naturalistic humor appreciation with implications for understanding multi-scale prediction integration in linguistic processing.
Authors 5
Yuxi Ma, Yongqian Peng, Junchen Lyu, Chi Zhang, Yixin Zhu
Specification
- Official page
Source:arXiv (Atom API + RSS)T1observed 7 h agohigh
- Arxiv announce type
- replace
Source:arXiv (Atom API + RSS)T1observed 7 h agohigh
- arXiv id
- 2605.00143
Source:arXiv (Atom API + RSS)T1observed 7 h agohigh
- Categories
- cs.CL
Source:arXiv (Atom API + RSS)T1observed 7 h agohigh
Source:arXiv (Atom API + RSS)T1observed 7 h agohigh
- Primary category
- cs.CL
Source:arXiv (Atom API + RSS)T1observed 7 h agohigh
- Published
- 11 Sept 2026
Source:arXiv (Atom API + RSS)T1observed 7 h agohigh
Each value shows its source, tier and observation time. Conflicting claims are kept side by side and flagged — never averaged. How AI Atlas records facts →
Provenance
Attributed facts
9
Source tiers
T19
Freshest observation
7 h ago
Conflicts
None
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- Authors
- Yuxi Ma, Yongqian Peng, Junchen Lyu
As of
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Claim history · Abstract
Abstractabstract1
| Value | Valid from → to | Status | Source | Confidence | Extractor |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Humor is a fundamental cognitive phenomenon in which humans derive pleasure from the expectation violations and their resolution, exemplifying the brain's dynamic capacity for predictive processing. Classical humor theories emphasize semantic incongruity as the primary driver of amusement, yet overlook temporal dynamics despite comedians' intuition that "timing is everything." The extent to which temporal structure contributes to humor appreciation and how it interacts with semantic content remains poorly understood. Here, we propose the Dual Prediction Violation (DPV) framework to capture the interplay between content and timing. By analyzing 828 professional Chinese stand-up performances, we show that temporal features substantially outweigh semantic incongruity in predicting audience appreciation. Specifically, we find that peak semantic violations matter more than average incongruity levels, and pauses systematically lengthen before high-surprise punchlines--a strategic coupling that distinguishes successful from unsuccessful performances. These findings reframe humor as temporally scaffolded, where timing and semantic content operate in strategic coordination rather than independently. Our DPV framework bridges humor theory with predictive processing, demonstrating that temporal structure plays a central role in naturalistic humor appreciation with implications for understanding multi-scale prediction integration in linguistic processing. | → current | current | arXiv (Atom API + RSS)T1 | high | deterministic |
Claims are temporal and append-only: a new observation closes the previous claim (valid_to) instead of overwriting it. Conflicting claims from different sources are kept side by side and flagged — never averaged. Methodology →
New paper: Timing is Everything: Temporal Scaffolding of Semantic Surprise in Humor
arxiv
| Source | Document | Type | Tier | Last observed | Snapshots |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| arXiv (Atom API + RSS) | rss.arxiv.org/rss/cs.CL | feed | T1· Official | 5 h ago | 1 |
Tier 1 = official/primary, 2 = quality secondary, 3 = community, 4 = unverified. Every snapshot is archived; see all sources and the methodology.