No kidding: Search on for world's funniest joke

Scientists say people react in different ways to humour

GLASGOW, Scotland -- A scientist has set himself the task of finding the world's funniest joke to see if universal humour exists, and whether it can further understanding of the brain.

The jokes, to be submitted in English to the Laughter Lab Web site, will help find whether humour varies for people of different age, sex and nationality.

A voting system will whittle down the entries to one winner, which will then be told to volunteers undergoing a brain scan to see how the brain reacts.

The result should help studies into brain damage and thought processes since understanding a joke requires a number of complex cognitive processes.

For example, people with damage to the frontal right hemispheres of their brains do not find jokes funny, and laugh at inappropriate times.

Submitted entries will be up against jokes generated by a computer.

What is an ig? A: An Eskimo's home with no toilet Computer generated jokes: What kind of pig can you ignore at a party? A: Wild bore What kind of contest can you drive on? A: Duel carriageway YOUR SAY Tell us your favourite joke

Dr. Richard Wiseman, a psychologist from the University of Hertfordshire near London, told a the British Association science festival in Glasgow that the project would last a year.

"It is an attempt to delve into the psychology of humour," he said. "A lot of cognitive input goes into understanding a joke and finding it funny. For that reason, psychologists have studied humour for a very long time.

"Are there certain types of jokes being submitted by a certain country and are there some which are found funny across the world -- a kind of universal joke?"

Wiseman is expecting 1,000 entries to flood in within the first 24 hours of the site, www.laughlab.co.uk, going up.

Smutty and offensive jokes will be weeded out, and people submitting jokes will also have to answer a few questions including responding to a 'laughometer' which will give their verdict on a sample of other jokes.