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"What was the price did Father Christmas's sleigh cost? Nothing, it was on the house."

This joke is met by moans that echo through a warehouse in the capital.

We're at a joke-testing meeting with a company that produces supplies for social events. Its catalogue includes Christmas crackers.

The company's owner grins, nearly apologetically at the gag. But the pun has been selected and will appear in future crackers.

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

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 communal laughter of the Christmas dinner table with elders, kids and possibly neighbours.

"You want the joke to be a thing that unites the child in harmony with the 80-year-old," she adds.

The Science Of Communal Amusement

Gathering to experience shared amusement is not only nothing new, experts argue, it is probably to be pre-human.

"So when you are laughing with people around the Christmas table you are engaging in what's almost certainly a really ancient mammal social vocalisation," says a neuroscience expert.

Communal laughter, she explains, aids in make and maintain social connections between people.

Researchers have discovered that a absence of these social exchanges can significantly harm both psychological and bodily well-being.

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

These natural chemicals are the brain's "happy chemicals" and are released both to alleviate stress and pain and in response to pleasurable experiences, such as chuckling with loved ones over a truly terrible Christmas cracker joke.

"It's not simply chuckling at a silly pun with a Christmas cracker," the expert states. "You are actually performing a lot of the really important task of making, maintaining the social bonds you have with the people you care about."

What Happens Inside the Mind?

But what is actually happening inside the mind when we hear a joke?

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

Using brain scanning technology, a type of brain scanner which indicates which parts of the brain are more active, researchers have been able to map the regions that get more blood flow.

Testing entails scanning the minds of healthy subjects and then exposing them to a database of funny phrases, paired with either a neutral sound, or recorded laughter.

"In the scanner we observed a very fascinating pattern of activation," says the neuroscientist.

A joke activates not just the parts of the mind responsible for auditory processing and understanding language, but also brain areas associated with both planning and starting motion and those linked to sight and recall.

Combine these elements as a whole, and people hearing a joke have a sophisticated set of brain reactions that support the amusement we experience.

The Contagious Nature of Laughter

Researchers found that when a humorous phrase is combined with chuckles there is a stronger reaction in the brain than the same word when followed by a neutral sound.

"This was in areas of the mind that you would employ to contort your expression into a grin or a laugh," the professor says.

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

Amusement, according to the expert, can be contagious.

So what does this imply for the chuckles heard around a Christmas table?

"You laugh more when you are familiar with others," she notes, "and laughter increases further when you like them or love them."

When it comes to Christmas cracker jokes, she explains, the positive effect is more probable to be caused not by the gag itself, but from the response to it.

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

The Search for the Ideal Cracker Joke

Is it possible to find the ultimate gag?

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

In 2001, a psychologist established a scientific search for the world's funniest gag.

More than 40,000 gags submitted, with ratings provided by hundreds of thousands of participants around the world, he has a better understanding than many as to what works and what does not.

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

"But they also be bad jokes, jokes that cause us to groan," he continues.

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

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

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

"It creates a shared moment around the table and I believe it's lovely."