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"What was the price did Santa's sled 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 meeting with a company that produces supplies for gatherings. Its catalogue features festive crackers.

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

"You measure the joke by the number of groans and the intensity of the groans around the table," the founder explains.

The secret to a great Christmas cracker joke is not the identical as a good joke in itself. It is entirely about the context - in this case, the shared laughter of the Christmas dinner table with grandparents, kids and potentially friends.

"You want the joke to be something that unites the eight-year-old in harmony with the grandparent," she states.

The Neuroscience Behind Shared Laughter

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

"Therefore when you are chuckling with people around the Christmas 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 make and maintain social bonds between people.

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

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

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

"You're not just chuckling at a silly pun with a holiday cracker," the expert says. "You are in fact doing a lot of the really important task of building, preserving the connections you have with those you love."

Which Occurs Inside the Mind?

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

An awful lot happens in reaction to comedy, 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 flow.

The research entails imaging the minds of healthy subjects and then subjecting them to a database of humorous words, accompanied by either a non-emotional sound, or pre-recorded chuckles.

"In the scanner we observed a very interesting pattern of neural activity," says the neuroscientist.

A joke stimulates not just the areas of the brain in charge of hearing and understanding speech, but also neural areas associated with both preparation and starting movement and those involved in vision and memory.

Combine all of this as a whole, and individuals listening to a joke have a sophisticated set of brain reactions that underpin the amusement we experience.

The Infectious Power of Chuckles

Scientists discovered that when a humorous word is combined with chuckles there is a greater reaction in the brain than the identical word when followed by a non-emotional sound.

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

It means we are not just responding to humorous jokes, they are reacting to the amusement that accompanies them.

Laughter, says the expert, can be contagious.

So what does this imply for the laughter found around a Christmas table?

"People laugh harder when you know others," she says, "and you laugh further when you like them or care for them."

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

"The laughter is key. The gag is the dreadful holiday cracker pun, and it's just a reason to laugh together."

The Quest for the Perfect Cracker Joke

Will we ever discover the perfect joke?

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

In 2001, a psychologist set up a scientific search for the world's most humorous gag.

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

The ideal festive cracker joke must be brief, he says.

"But they also be bad gags, jokes that make us moan," he adds.

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

"This is because if no-one finds it funny – it's the gag's fault, not yours.

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

"It creates a common experience at the table and I think it's wonderful."