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"How much did Father Christmas's sleigh cost? Zero, it was on the house."

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

This describes a humor-evaluation meeting with a company that produces supplies for social events. Its repertoire includes festive crackers.

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

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

The key to a great Christmas cracker joke is not the identical as a good joke per se. It is all about the context - in this instance, the shared amusement of the Christmas meal with grandparents, kids and possibly neighbours.

"You want the gag to be something that brings the child together with the 80-year-old," she states.

The Neuroscience Of Shared Amusement

Coming together to experience shared laughter is not only nothing new, scientists argue, it is probably to be pre-human.

"Therefore when you are laughing with people at the Christmas dinner you are dropping into what's very likely a really ancient mammalian play vocalisation," says a neuroscience expert.

Shared amusement, she explains, helps forge and strengthen social connections between people.

Scientists have discovered that a absence of such social exchanges can seriously harm mental and physical health.

"The people you talk to, and laugh with, it leads to increased amounts of 'happy chemical' release," she continues.

Endorphins are the brain's "feel-good compounds" and are produced both to reduce tension and discomfort and in reaction to enjoyable activities, such as laughing with friends over a particularly awful festive cracker joke.

"You're not just chuckling at a silly joke with a Christmas cracker," she states. "You are actually doing a lot of the truly vital work of building, preserving the connections you have with the people you care about."

Which Happens Inside the Brain?

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

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

Using brain scanning technology, a type of neural imager which shows which parts of the brain are more active, scientists have been able to map the regions that receive more blood flow.

Testing entails imaging the brains of healthy subjects and then exposing them to a collection of funny words, paired with either a neutral sound, or pre-recorded chuckles.

"During the study we observed a very interesting activation pattern of neural activity," says the professor.

A joke stimulates not just the areas of the brain responsible for auditory processing and understanding speech, but also neural areas associated with both planning and initiating motion and those linked to sight and recall.

Put these elements as a whole, and individuals hearing a pun have a sophisticated series of brain reactions that support the amusement we experience.

The Infectious Power of Chuckles

Researchers discovered that when a funny word is paired with laughter there is a stronger response in the mind than the identical word when followed by a neutral sound.

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

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

Laughter, says the professor, can be infectious.

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

"You laugh harder when you know people," she says, "and laughter increases further when you are fond of them or love them."

When it comes to Christmas cracker jokes, she explains, the feel-good factor is more probable to be triggered not by the joke 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

Is it possible to find the perfect joke?

Probably not, but that has not prevented researchers from attempting to.

Years ago, a psychologist set up a research search for the planet's most humorous gag.

More than 40,000 jokes submitted, with ratings provided by 350,000 people globally, he has a better understanding than many as to what succeeds and what fails.

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

"But they also be bad jokes, puns that make us moan," he continues.

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

"The reason is that if nobody finds it funny – it's the joke's fault, not your own.

"What's interesting about the Christmas cracker jokes is that not one person considers them funny.

"It creates a common moment at the gathering and I believe it's wonderful."