Abstract: Irony as a figurative language is usually adopted to express negative attitudes in a polite and indirect way, and therefore its cognitive mechanism is quite different from that of literal utterance. There are mainly five theories or models concerning the cognitive processing of irony, namely Standard Pragmatic View, Echoic Mention Theory, Pretense Theory, Allusion Pretense Theory and Echoing-contrasting Cognitive Operation Model. Each has its own advantages and limitations. The researchers believe that it is of high necessity to test the cognitive processing of irony with experimental methods taking individual differences such as empathy ability and working memory capacity into consideration.

Key words: irony, cognitive mechanism, individual difference