The understanding of the ironic valence of statements was investigated in developmental age in relation to different types of irony (situational, verbal referring to the context and verbal referring to the person) with the aim of identifying the stages of acquisition of full mastery of the different components - cognitive, pragmatic and emotional - of ironic communication.

The study of the understanding of irony in developmental age was framed within the main theories on irony in general and in development in particular.

The relationship between understanding irony and the development of the Theory of Mind was also analyzed.