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

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

This describes a joke-testing session with a company that produces products for gatherings. Its repertoire features Christmas crackers.

The company's owner smiles, nearly apologetically at the gag. But the joke has made the cut and will appear in future crackers.

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

The key to a great holiday cracker pun is not the same as a stand-up gag in itself. It is all about the context - in this case, the shared laughter of the holiday meal with elders, kids and possibly friends.

"The goal is for the gag to be something that brings the eight-year-old in harmony with the grandparent," she states.

The Science Behind Communal Laughter

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

"Therefore when you are laughing with others around the holiday dinner you are engaging in what's very likely a really ancient mammal play sound," says a neuroscience expert.

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

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

"The people you converse with, and share laughter with, it results in enhanced amounts of 'happy chemical' uptake," she adds.

These natural chemicals are the body's "happy chemicals" and are released both to alleviate stress and pain and in response to pleasurable activities, such as laughing with friends over a truly awful festive cracker joke.

"It's not simply chuckling at a foolish pun with a holiday cracker," she states. "You are actually doing a lot of the truly vital task of making, maintaining the connections you have with those you care about."

Which Happens In the Mind?

But what is truly taking place within the brain when we listen to a gag?

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

Using brain scanning technology, a type of brain scanner which shows which areas of the mind are working harder, researchers have been able to map the regions that get more blood.

The research entails imaging the brains of healthy subjects and then exposing them to a collection of humorous phrases, accompanied by either a non-emotional sound, or pre-recorded chuckles.

"During the study we got a very interesting activation pattern of activation," notes the neuroscientist.

A joke stimulates not just the parts of the mind in charge of auditory processing and understanding language, but also neural regions associated with both preparation and initiating movement and those involved in vision and recall.

Combine these elements as a whole, and people hearing a pun have a sophisticated series of neural responses that support the laughter we experience.

The Infectious Power of Chuckles

Researchers discovered that when a funny word is paired with chuckles there is a stronger reaction in the brain than the same word when followed by a neutral sound.

"This activation occurred in parts of the brain that you would employ to contort your face into a grin or a chuckle," she says.

It indicates people are not just reacting to humorous jokes, they are responding to the laughter that accompanies them.

Laughter, according to the expert, can be infectious.

So what does this mean for the chuckles heard at a Christmas gathering?

"You laugh more when you know others," she notes, "and laughter increases further when you like them or care for them."

When it comes to Christmas cracker jokes, she says, the feel-good effect is more likely to be caused not by the joke in itself, but from the response to it.

"The laughter is key. The gag is the dreadful Christmas cracker joke, and it's just a pretext to laugh as a group."

The Search for the Perfect Cracker Joke

Is it possible to discover the perfect joke?

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

Years ago, a professor set up a research search for the planet's funniest gag.

More than 40,000 jokes later, with ratings provided by hundreds of thousands of people globally, he has a clearer idea than most as to what succeeds and what does not.

The perfect Christmas cracker joke must be short, he says.

"But they also need to be bad gags, puns that cause us to groan," he continues.

The more "terrible" the gag, he says the better.

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

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

"It creates a shared experience around the gathering and I think it's lovely."