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"How much did Santa's sled cost? Zero, it was on the house."

This quip is greeted with moans that resonate through a storage facility in the capital.

We're at a humor-evaluation meeting with a company that makes supplies for gatherings. Its catalogue includes Christmas crackers.

The company's founder smiles, nearly apologetically at the gag. But the pun has been selected and will appear in upcoming crackers.

"You measure the joke by the volume of moans and the intensity of the groans around the table," the founder explains.

The key to a good Christmas cracker joke is not the identical as a stand-up joke per se. It is all about the context - in this case, the communal amusement of the holiday dinner table with elders, children and potentially friends.

"The goal is for the joke to be something that brings the child in harmony with the grandparent," she adds.

The Neuroscience Behind Communal Laughter

Coming together to enjoy shared amusement is not only ancient, experts argue, it is likely to be older than humanity.

"So when you are laughing with people at the holiday table you are dropping into what's very likely a truly ancient mammal social sound," says a neuroscience expert.

Communal amusement, she explains, aids in forge and strengthen social connections between individuals.

Scientists have discovered that a lack of these social exchanges can significantly damage both psychological and bodily well-being.

"Those you talk to, and share laughter with, it results in increased levels of endorphin release," she continues.

These natural chemicals are the body's "happy chemicals" and are produced both to alleviate stress and pain and in reaction to pleasurable activities, such as chuckling with friends over a truly terrible festive cracker gag.

"It's not simply laughing at a foolish pun with a Christmas cracker," she states. "You are actually doing a lot of the truly important work of making, maintaining the connections you have with the people you care about."

What Occurs Inside the Mind?

But what is truly happening inside the brain when we listen to a joke?

An awful lot happens in response to comedy, it turns out.

Using brain scanning technology, a type of neural imager which shows which areas of the mind are working harder, scientists have been able to chart the regions that receive more blood.

Testing entails imaging the brains of healthy subjects and then exposing them to a database of funny phrases, accompanied by either a non-emotional sound, or recorded laughter.

"In the scanner we got a very interesting activation pattern of neural activity," notes the professor.

A gag activates not just the parts of the mind in charge of hearing and interpreting speech, but also brain regions associated with both planning and initiating motion and those linked to sight and memory.

Combine these elements together, and individuals listening to a joke have a complex series of brain reactions that underpin the laughter we hear.

The Infectious Nature of Chuckles

Scientists discovered that when a humorous phrase is combined with chuckles there is a greater reaction in the brain than the identical word when accompanied by a neutral sound.

"This activation occurred in areas of the brain that you would employ to contort your expression into a grin or a chuckle," the professor explains.

It means people are not just reacting to humorous words, they are responding to the laughter that follows them.

Amusement, says the expert, can be contagious.

So what does this mean for the laughter found around a Christmas gathering?

"You laugh more when you know people," she notes, "and you laugh further when you like them or love them."

When it comes to Christmas cracker puns, she says, the positive factor is more probable to be caused not by the gag itself, but from the reaction to it.

"It's the laughter. The joke is the dreadful Christmas cracker pun, and it's just a reason to chuckle as a group."

The Quest for the Ideal Festive Pun

Is it possible to find the perfect gag?

Probably not, but that has not stopped researchers from attempting to.

Years ago, a psychologist established a research search for the world's funniest gag.

More than tens of thousands of gags submitted, with scores lodged by 350,000 participants around the world, he has a better idea than most as to what works and what does not.

The perfect Christmas cracker joke needs to be short, he explains.

"They must also be poor jokes, puns that make us moan," he continues.

The increasingly "awful" the joke, he states the more effective.

"This is because if no-one laughs – it's the joke's fault, not yours.

"What's interesting about the Christmas cracker jokes is that none of us find them funny.

"That's a shared moment around the table and I believe it's wonderful."