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

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

This describes a humor-evaluation session with a firm that produces products for gatherings. Its catalogue includes Christmas crackers.

The company's founder smiles, nearly apologetically at the joke. But the pun has been selected and will feature in future crackers.

"The success is gauged by the gag by the number of moans and the intensity of the groans around the table," the founder explains.

The key to a great Christmas cracker pun is not the same as a good joke per se. It is all about the context - in this case, the shared laughter of the holiday meal with grandparents, kids and potentially neighbours.

"The goal is for the gag to be something that unites the eight-year-old in harmony with the 80-year-old," she adds.

The Science Of Communal Amusement

Gathering to experience communal laughter is not only nothing new, scientists argue, it is likely to be older than humanity.

"Therefore when you are chuckling with people at the holiday table you are dropping into what's very likely a truly ancient mammalian play sound," says a professor.

Communal laughter, she says, helps forge and strengthen social connections between individuals.

Scientists have discovered that a lack of such interactions can significantly damage mental and physical well-being.

"Those you talk to, and laugh with, it results in enhanced levels of 'happy chemical' release," she continues.

These natural chemicals are the brain's "feel-good compounds" and are produced both to alleviate stress and pain and in response to enjoyable activities, such as chuckling with friends over a truly awful festive cracker joke.

"You're not just laughing at a foolish joke with a holiday cracker," the expert says. "You are actually performing a lot of the really vital work of making, maintaining the social bonds you have with those you care about."

Which Occurs In the Brain?

But what is truly happening within the mind when we hear a gag?

A tremendous amount happens in response to humour, it transpires.

Employing functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), a type of neural imager which indicates which areas of the mind are more active, scientists have been able to map the regions that receive more blood flow.

The research involves imaging the minds of volunteer participants and then subjecting them to a database of funny phrases, accompanied by either a non-emotional sound, or recorded chuckles.

"During the study we observed a really interesting pattern of neural activity," says the professor.

A joke activates not just the parts of the brain in charge of auditory processing and understanding language, but also neural regions involved in both planning and initiating movement and those involved in sight and recall.

Put all of this as a whole, and individuals hearing a joke have a complex set of brain reactions that support the amusement we hear.

The Contagious Power of Chuckles

Scientists found that when a funny phrase is combined with laughter there is a greater response in the mind than the identical word when followed by a neutral sound.

"This activation occurred in parts of the mind that you would use to contort your expression into a grin or a laugh," she explains.

It means we are not just reacting to funny words, they are reacting to the laughter that follows them.

Amusement, according to the professor, can be contagious.

So what does this imply for the laughter found at a Christmas gathering?

"You laugh more when you know others," she says, "and laughter increases more when you are fond of them or love them."

When it comes to Christmas cracker jokes, she says, the feel-good factor is more likely to be triggered not by the joke itself, but from the reaction to it.

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

The Search for the Ideal Cracker Joke

Is it possible to find the ultimate gag?

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

Years ago, a professor established a scientific project for the world's most humorous gag.

Over tens of thousands of jokes submitted, with scores provided by 350,000 participants globally, he has a clearer idea than most as to what works and what fails.

The perfect festive cracker joke needs to be short, he says.

"But they also need to be bad gags, jokes that make us moan," he continues.

The increasingly "terrible" the joke, he says the better.

"This is because if nobody laughs – it's the gag's fault, not yours.

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

"That's a shared experience at the table and I think it's wonderful."