Don’t scoff at laugh tracks: they work.

According to a report published Monday in the journal Current Biology, having recorded laughter play while corny “dad jokes” are told makes people find them funnier. Spontaneous laughter, researchers found, is more effective than posed laughter, and impacts both neurotypical people and those with autism.

“I’m fascinated that not only does laughter make the joke seem funnier, but that the more spontaneous the laughter, the funnier it makes the joke!” says study author Sophie Scott of the University College London in a press release.

For the study, researchers had a comedian read bad jokes to two groups, one in silence, the other while accompanied by a laugh track. Half the time, the laugh track played was posed, and the other half, spontaneous-sounding.

In the two groups, participants included both neurotypical and autistic members.

Researchers concluded the effect of laughter was the same for both participant types, concluding that everyone is influenced by laughter, be it consciously or subconsciously: the laugh track made the jokes far funnier.

“We are overwhelmingly more likely to laugh when we are with other people,” the study concludes, “the presence of laughter enhances how funny people find jokes.”

Next, Scott wants to look into why this is.

“We want to do a brain-scanning study so we can see how the laughter influences joke perception in the brain, and whether this is the same for everyone,” says Scott.