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

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

This describes a joke-testing session with a firm that makes supplies for gatherings. Its repertoire features Christmas crackers.

The firm's founder smiles, almost apologetically at the joke. But the joke has been selected and will feature in upcoming crackers.

"The success is gauged by the gag by the volume of moans and the loudness of the groans at the table," she explains.

The secret to a good holiday cracker joke is not the identical as a good joke per se. It is entirely about the setting - in this instance, the shared amusement of the Christmas dinner table with elders, kids and potentially friends.

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

The Science Of Communal Amusement

Gathering to enjoy communal laughter is not only ancient, experts say, it is probably to be pre-human.

"So when you are laughing with people around the Christmas dinner you are engaging in what's almost certainly a really ancient mammalian play vocalisation," explains a neuroscience expert.

Communal laughter, she says, helps make and maintain social bonds between people.

Researchers have discovered that a lack of such interactions can significantly damage mental and physical health.

"The people you converse with, and share laughter with, it leads to enhanced amounts of 'happy chemical' release," she continues.

These natural chemicals are the brain's "feel-good compounds" and are produced both to alleviate stress and pain and in reaction to enjoyable activities, such as laughing with loved ones over a truly terrible festive cracker gag.

"You're not just chuckling at a foolish joke with a Christmas cracker," the expert says. "You are in fact performing a lot of the really vital task of making, maintaining the connections you have with the people you love."

Which Happens In the Brain?

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

An awful lot happens in reaction to humour, it transpires.

Employing brain scanning technology, a type of brain scanner which shows which areas of the mind are more active, researchers have been able to chart the regions that receive more blood.

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

"During the study we got a really interesting activation pattern of activation," says the professor.

A joke stimulates not just the parts of the mind responsible for hearing and understanding speech, but also neural regions involved in both preparation and starting motion and those involved in vision and memory.

Put these elements together, and people hearing a pun have a complex set of brain responses that support the laughter we hear.

The Infectious Power of Chuckles

Researchers discovered that when a humorous word is combined with chuckles there is a stronger response in the brain than the identical word when accompanied by a non-emotional sound.

"This was in areas of the brain that you would use to contort your face into a grin or a laugh," the professor says.

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

Amusement, according to the expert, can be contagious.

So what does this imply for the chuckles found around a Christmas gathering?

"People laugh more when you know people," she says, "and laughter increases further when you like them or care for them."

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

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

The Quest for the Ideal Festive Pun

Will we ever discover the perfect joke?

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

Years ago, a psychologist established a scientific search for the world's most humorous joke.

More than tens of thousands of jokes later, with ratings provided by 350,000 participants globally, he has a better idea than many as to what works and what does not.

The perfect festive cracker joke needs to be short, he explains.

"They must also be poor jokes, jokes that make us groan," he continues.

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

"This is because if nobody laughs – it's the joke's shortcoming, not your own.

"The fascinating part about the holiday cracker jokes is that none of us find them humorous.

"That's a common experience at the gathering and I believe it's lovely."