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"What was the price did Father Christmas's sled cost? Zero, it was on the house."

This one-liner is greeted with moans that resonate through a warehouse in the capital.

We're at a joke-testing meeting with a firm that makes supplies for gatherings. Its catalogue includes Christmas crackers.

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

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

The key to a great holiday cracker pun is not the same as a good gag per se. It is all about the setting - in this instance, the communal laughter of the Christmas dinner table with grandparents, children and potentially neighbours.

"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 nothing new, experts argue, it is probably to be pre-human.

"So when you are laughing with people around the Christmas dinner you are dropping into what's very likely a truly ancient mammal play sound," says a neuroscience expert.

Shared laughter, she says, aids in forge and strengthen social bonds between individuals.

Researchers have found that a absence of these social exchanges can seriously damage both psychological and bodily health.

"The people you converse with, and share laughter with, it results in increased amounts of 'happy chemical' uptake," she continues.

These natural chemicals are the brain's "happy chemicals" and are released both to alleviate tension and discomfort and in reaction to enjoyable activities, such as chuckling with loved ones over a truly awful festive cracker gag.

"You're not just laughing at a foolish pun with a holiday cracker," she states. "You are actually doing a lot of the truly vital task of making, maintaining the connections you have with those you care about."

What Happens Inside the Mind?

But what is truly happening within the mind when we listen to a joke?

A tremendous amount occurs in response to humour, it transpires.

Employing functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), a kind of brain scanner which indicates which areas of the mind are more active, scientists have been able to map the regions that get more blood flow.

The research involves scanning the brains of healthy participants and then subjecting them to a database of funny words, accompanied by either a neutral sound, or recorded chuckles.

"During the study we observed a very interesting activation pattern of activation," notes the professor.

A joke stimulates not just the parts of the mind in charge of auditory processing and understanding language, but also brain areas associated with both preparation and initiating movement and those linked to sight and memory.

Put all of this together, and individuals listening to a joke have a sophisticated set of brain responses that support the amusement we hear.

The Contagious Power of Chuckles

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

"This was in areas of the mind that you would use to move your expression into a smile or a laugh," she says.

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

Amusement, says the professor, can be infectious.

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

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

When it comes to Christmas cracker puns, she says, the positive factor is more likely to be triggered not by the joke itself, but from the response to it.

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

The Quest for the Perfect Festive Pun

Is it possible to discover the perfect joke?

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

In 2001, a professor set up a scientific project for the world's funniest gag.

More than tens of thousands of jokes later, with ratings provided by hundreds of thousands of people around the world, he has a clearer understanding than many as to what works and what does not.

The ideal festive cracker pun needs to be brief, he says.

"But they also need to be bad jokes, jokes that cause us to moan," he adds.

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

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

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

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