@ LovinLarge
Ought may imply can. The original research the OP was based on indirectly says: ”Brain damage to the frontal lobes, and not the posterior regions in our sample, did affect the ability to appreciate humour. There is a logic to this finding. Damage to the frontal lobes has historically been related to changes in personality, with striking effects on humour production and reactions. Such individuals have ‘Witzelsucht' (addiction to telling jokes, usually inappropriate in content when they are produced), `moria' (silly, euphoric behaviour) and inappropriate laughter (Stuss and Benson, 1986; Stuss et al., 1992).”

The wiki article says: ”Witzelsucht (German: [ˈvɪtsl̩ˌzʊxt] "joking addiction" ) is a set of pure and rare neurological symptoms characterized by a tendency to make puns, or tell inappropriate jokes or pointless stories in socially inappropriate situations. It makes one unable to read sarcasm. A less common symptom is hypersexuality, the tendency to make sexual comments at inappropriate times or situations. Patients do not understand that their behavior is abnormal, therefore they are nonresponsive to others' reactions.”

@Scott321 You missed the "aware of this limitation" qualifier.

@Dyl1983 Well in all seriousness, something difficult for me to sustain, the notion that some may be incapable of tempering their humor to fit with societal norms or heightened sensitivities adds some complexity to recent social trending toward more sensitivity. Impulse control, certain conditions (eg-Witzelsucht) or neurodivergence may call for some empathy or accommodation for being very inappropriate. But this line of thought could be engineered as an odd strategy to fight a culture war, especially given ableism itself is something folks seek to avoid and disability studies but one potential bugbear of the anti-SJWs. So I had encountered this before:

[quillette.com]

With this passage:
“ When a policy is formally neutral, but it adversely affects one legally protected group of people more than other people, that’s called ‘disparate impact’, and it’s illegal. People with diagnosed mental disorders qualify as ‘disabled’ people under the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and other federal laws, so any speech code at a public university that imposes disparate impact on neurominorities is illegal.”

So speech codes or other means of discouraging mocking minorities (or the disabled too) could be attacked via the ADA itself? That’s just one way to look at it. Too deep for me to wrap my head around.

@AnneWimsey
I too have some hesitance toward neo-phrenological localization assumptions but the researchers do make this observation: “These results reveal a double dissociation within the right hemisphere. Damage in the right posterior part of the brain did not produce a deficit in humour appreciation (Fig. 1). There appears to be a very specific brain–behaviour association of humour appreciation within the right frontal lobe: the right anterior (somewhat more superior) region (Fig. 2). There is suggestion of a possible dissociation within the right frontal lobe as well, although the sample size is small. Patient 2053 had the third-largest right frontal lesion, yet was in the unimpaired group. Examination of the lesion location in this patient indicated that the right frontal lesion was inferior medial while those in the impaired group had more superior polar involvement.”

[academic.oup.com]

For those without lesions historical context or lack of cultural grounding may prevent “getting it”. Old SNL episodes reference news events current at the time. I have a hard time with Monty Python skits. And long winded jokes tax my working memory where I shut down well before the punchline.

@Dyl1983 you make a sweeping generalization based on a snippet of "research" & then get all butt-hurt when someone points out the absurdity of the snippet & your naivete in buying into it? So cute......if you were 5.......

@Scott321: I know after my brain-stem stroke in 1989 (due to chiropractic manipulation) I had much trouble controling my responses to even slightly stressful situations, a marked difference, it seemed like 39 years of learned self-control had been wiped away.....
So i have No problem understanding that brain damage can have consequences, big & small. (Still have residual problems!)
I do have a Huge problem understanding how the effects of "humor appreciation" could be measured, however, even in "normal"people. There is a Huge range of response to, for one glaring example, Jerry Lewis.

Hah.

This may be the actual study:
[academic.oup.com]
”Humour occupies a special place in human social interactions. The brain regions and the potential psychological processes underlying humour appreciation were investigated by testing patients who had focal damage in various areas of the brain. A specific brain region, the right frontal lobe, most disrupted the ability to appreciate humour. The individuals with damage in this brain region also reacted less, with diminished physical or emotional responses (laughter, smiling). Performance on the humour appreciation tests used were correlated in a distinct pattern with tests assessing cognitive processes. The ability to hold information in mind (working memory) was related to both verbal (jokes) and non-verbal (cartoon) tests of humour appreciation. In addition, the demands of the specific type of humour test were related in a logical manner to cognitive processes, verbal humour being associated with verbal abstraction ability and mental shifting and cartoon humour being related to the abilities to focus attention to details and to visually search the environment. The ability of the right frontal lobe may be unique in integrating cognitive and affective information, an integration relevant for other complex human abilities, such as episodic memory and self-awareness.”

That explains Benny Hill and my Step-Dad.

@rainmanjr and my son and ex-husband!