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

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

This describes a humor-evaluation meeting with a company that produces products for gatherings. Its repertoire includes festive crackers.

The firm's founder smiles, nearly sheepishly at the gag. But the joke has been selected and will feature in future crackers.

"You measure the joke by the volume of moans and the intensity of the groans around the table," she says.

The secret to a great Christmas cracker pun is not the identical as a good gag in itself. It is all about the setting - in this instance, the communal laughter of the holiday meal with grandparents, kids and possibly friends.

"The goal is for the gag to be a thing that unites the eight-year-old in harmony with the 80-year-old," she adds.

The Science Behind Communal Amusement

Gathering to experience communal laughter is not only nothing new, scientists say, it is likely to be pre-human.

"Therefore when you are chuckling with people around the holiday dinner you are dropping into what's very likely a really primordial mammal play sound," says a professor.

Communal amusement, she says, aids in make and maintain social connections between people.

Scientists have found that a lack of such interactions can significantly damage both psychological and bodily health.

"Those you converse with, and laugh with, it results in enhanced amounts of 'happy chemical' uptake," the professor adds.

These natural chemicals are the brain's "feel-good compounds" and are produced both to reduce tension and discomfort and in reaction to pleasurable experiences, such as chuckling with friends over a truly terrible festive cracker joke.

"It's not simply chuckling at a silly pun with a holiday cracker," she says. "You are in fact doing a lot of the truly vital work of building, preserving the connections you have with the people you care about."

Which Occurs Inside the Brain?

But what is actually happening within the brain when we hear a joke?

A tremendous amount happens in reaction to comedy, it transpires.

Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), a type of brain scanner which indicates which areas of the brain are more active, scientists have been able to chart the areas that receive more blood.

Testing involves imaging the minds of healthy subjects and then exposing them to a database of humorous phrases, accompanied by either a non-emotional sound, or recorded chuckles.

"In the scanner we got a really fascinating activation pattern of activation," says the neuroscientist.

A joke stimulates not just the areas of the brain in charge of hearing and interpreting language, but also brain regions involved in both planning and initiating movement and those linked to vision and recall.

Combine these elements together, and individuals hearing a joke have a complex set of neural reactions that support the laughter we experience.

The Contagious Nature of Laughter

Researchers found that when a humorous phrase is combined with laughter there is a stronger response in the mind than the identical phrase when followed by a neutral sound.

"This was in areas of the mind that you would employ to move your face into a smile or a laugh," the professor explains.

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

Laughter, according to the professor, can be infectious.

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

"People laugh more when you know people," she notes, "and you laugh more when you are fond of them or love them."

When it comes to festive cracker puns, she explains, the positive factor is more likely to be caused not by the gag itself, but from the response to it.

"It's the laughter. The joke is the dreadful holiday cracker pun, and it's just a pretext to chuckle together."

The Quest for the Ideal Cracker Joke

Is it possible to discover the ultimate gag?

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

In 2001, a psychologist set up a scientific search for the planet's funniest gag.

Over 40,000 gags submitted, with ratings provided by 350,000 participants globally, he has a clearer idea than most as to what works and what fails.

The perfect festive cracker pun must be brief, he says.

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

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

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

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

"That's a shared experience at the table and I believe it's wonderful."