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"What was the price did Santa's sleigh cost? Zero, it was on the house."

This joke is met by moans that resonate through a warehouse in London.

This describes a humor-evaluation session with a company that makes supplies for social events. Its repertoire includes Christmas crackers.

The firm's owner smiles, nearly apologetically at the gag. But the joke has been selected and will appear in upcoming crackers.

"The success is gauged by the joke by the volume of moans and the loudness of the groans around the table," the founder says.

The secret to a good Christmas cracker joke is not the same as a stand-up gag per se. It is all about the context - in this case, the communal amusement of the Christmas dinner table with grandparents, kids and possibly neighbours.

"The goal is for the joke to be a thing that brings the eight-year-old together with the grandparent," she states.

The Neuroscience Behind Communal Amusement

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

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

Shared laughter, she says, aids in make and maintain social connections between people.

Researchers have discovered that a lack of these social exchanges can seriously harm both psychological and bodily health.

"The people you converse with, and share laughter with, it leads to enhanced amounts of endorphin release," the professor continues.

Endorphins are the body's "happy chemicals" and are released both to alleviate stress and pain and in response to pleasurable activities, such as chuckling with friends over a particularly terrible Christmas cracker joke.

"It's not simply chuckling at a foolish pun with a Christmas cracker," she says. "You are actually doing a lot of the truly vital task of making, maintaining the connections you have with the people you love."

Which Occurs Inside the Mind?

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

A tremendous amount happens in reaction to humour, it turns out.

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

Testing entails scanning the minds of healthy participants and then exposing them to a collection of funny words, paired with either a neutral sound, or recorded chuckles.

"During the study we got a very fascinating pattern of activation," says the neuroscientist.

A joke activates not just the areas of the brain responsible for auditory processing and interpreting language, but also neural areas involved in both planning and starting movement and those linked to sight and recall.

Combine these elements as a whole, and individuals listening to a joke have a sophisticated series of brain responses that underpin the amusement we experience.

The Infectious Nature of Chuckles

Researchers discovered that when a humorous word is paired with laughter there is a greater reaction in the mind than the same phrase when accompanied by a neutral sound.

"This was in parts of the brain that you would use to contort your expression into a smile or a laugh," she says.

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

Laughter, according to the professor, can be contagious.

So what does this mean for the laughter found at a holiday gathering?

"People laugh more when you are familiar with people," she says, "and laughter increases further when you like them or love them."

When it comes to festive cracker jokes, she explains, the positive effect is more likely to be triggered not by the gag in itself, but from the reaction to it.

"It's the laughter. The gag is the terrible holiday cracker joke, and it's just a pretext to chuckle as a group."

The Search for the Ideal Festive Pun

Is it possible to find the ultimate gag?

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

Years ago, a psychologist set up a scientific search for the world's funniest gag.

More than 40,000 gags submitted, with scores lodged by 350,000 people globally, he has a better understanding than many as to what succeeds and what does not.

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

"But they also need to be poor jokes, puns that cause us to groan," he adds.

The more "terrible" the joke, he states the better.

"The reason is that if no-one finds it funny – it's the joke's shortcoming, not yours.

"What's interesting about the holiday cracker jokes is that not one person find them funny.

"It creates a shared moment at the gathering and I believe it's lovely."