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"How much did Santa's sleigh cost? Nothing, it was on the house."

This joke is greeted with groans that echo through a warehouse in the capital.

We're at a joke-testing meeting with a company that makes products for gatherings. Its repertoire includes festive crackers.

The company's founder grins, nearly apologetically at the gag. But the joke has been selected and will feature in upcoming crackers.

"The success is gauged by the gag by the number of groans and the loudness of the groans around the table," she explains.

The key to a great holiday cracker pun is not the identical as a stand-up gag in itself. It is entirely about the setting - in this case, the shared amusement of the Christmas meal with grandparents, children and possibly friends.

"You want the gag to be something that unites the child together with the grandparent," she states.

The Neuroscience Of Communal Laughter

Gathering to enjoy shared amusement is not only nothing new, scientists say, it is probably to be older than humanity.

"So when you are laughing with people around the holiday table you are engaging in what's very likely a really primordial mammalian social sound," says a professor.

Communal amusement, she explains, aids in forge and strengthen social bonds between people.

Researchers have discovered that a absence of such social exchanges can significantly harm mental and physical well-being.

"The people you talk to, and share laughter with, it leads to increased amounts of 'happy chemical' uptake," the professor adds.

These natural chemicals are the brain's "happy chemicals" and are produced both to alleviate stress and pain and in response to pleasurable activities, such as laughing with friends over a particularly terrible Christmas cracker gag.

"You're not just laughing at a foolish joke with a holiday cracker," she states. "You are in fact performing a lot of the really important work of making, maintaining the connections you have with those you care about."

What Happens In the Mind?

But what is truly taking place inside the mind when we listen to a gag?

A tremendous amount occurs in response to humour, it turns out.

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

The research entails imaging the minds of volunteer subjects and then exposing them to a collection of humorous words, paired with either a neutral sound, or pre-recorded chuckles.

"In the scanner we observed a really interesting activation pattern of activation," notes the neuroscientist.

A gag activates not just the areas of the brain in charge of hearing and interpreting speech, but also brain areas involved in both planning and starting motion and those linked to sight and memory.

Combine all of this as a whole, and individuals listening to a pun have a complex set of neural reactions that support the laughter we experience.

The Infectious Nature of Chuckles

Scientists found that when a humorous word is paired with laughter there is a greater response in the mind than the same phrase when accompanied by a non-emotional sound.

"This activation occurred in parts of the brain that you would use to move your expression into a smile or a laugh," the professor explains.

It indicates we are not just reacting to funny jokes, they are responding to the amusement that follows them.

Amusement, says the professor, can be infectious.

So what does this mean for the laughter heard at a holiday table?

"People laugh harder when you know people," she notes, "and laughter increases more when you are fond of them or love them."

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

"The laughter is key. The gag is the terrible holiday cracker pun, and it's just a pretext to laugh as a group."

The Search for the Perfect Cracker Joke

Is it possible to discover the ultimate joke?

Likely not, but that has not prevented experts from trying to.

Years ago, a professor established a research project for the world's most humorous joke.

Over 40,000 gags later, with scores lodged by 350,000 people globally, he has a clearer idea than most as to what succeeds and what fails.

The perfect Christmas cracker pun must be short, he explains.

"But they also be poor jokes, jokes that cause us to moan," he continues.

The more "terrible" the joke, he says the more effective.

"This is because if no-one laughs – it's the joke's shortcoming, not your own.

"The fascinating part about the Christmas cracker puns is that not one person considers them funny.

"It creates a common experience around the gathering and I believe it's lovely."