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"How much did Santa's sled cost? Zero, it was on the house."

This joke is greeted with groans that echo through a warehouse in the capital.

This describes a joke-testing session with a firm that makes products for social events. Its catalogue includes Christmas crackers.

The company's founder smiles, nearly sheepishly at the joke. But the pun has been selected and will appear in upcoming crackers.

"You measure the gag by the number of groans and the intensity of the groans at the table," she explains.

The key to a good Christmas cracker pun is not the same as a good joke in itself. It is entirely about the setting - in this instance, the communal amusement of the holiday meal with grandparents, kids and potentially friends.

"You want the joke to be a thing that unites the child together with the grandparent," she adds.

The Neuroscience Of Shared Amusement

Coming together to enjoy shared laughter is not only ancient, experts say, it is probably to be pre-human.

"So when you are chuckling with people around the holiday table you are dropping into what's very likely a really ancient mammalian play sound," explains a neuroscience expert.

Communal amusement, she explains, helps forge and strengthen social bonds between people.

Researchers have found that a lack of these interactions can significantly harm both psychological and bodily well-being.

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

These natural chemicals are the brain's "feel-good compounds" and are produced both to alleviate stress and pain and in reaction to pleasurable activities, such as chuckling with friends over a truly awful Christmas cracker gag.

"It's not simply chuckling at a silly pun with a Christmas cracker," she states. "You are actually doing a lot of the really vital work of making, maintaining the social bonds you have with the people you love."

Which Happens Inside the Mind?

But what is truly taking place within the mind when we hear a gag?

An awful lot occurs in response to comedy, it turns out.

Using brain scanning technology, a type of brain scanner which shows which parts of the mind are more active, scientists have been able to chart the areas that get more blood.

The research involves imaging the brains of volunteer subjects and then subjecting them to a database of funny words, paired with either a neutral sound, or pre-recorded chuckles.

"During the study we got a very fascinating pattern of neural activity," says the professor.

A joke activates not just the areas of the brain in charge of auditory processing and interpreting speech, but also neural regions involved in both preparation and initiating movement and those linked to sight and memory.

Put these elements together, and individuals listening to a pun have a complex series of neural reactions that support the amusement we experience.

The Infectious Nature of Laughter

Scientists discovered that when a humorous phrase is paired with laughter there is a greater reaction in the brain than the identical word when accompanied by a non-emotional sound.

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

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

Amusement, says the professor, can be contagious.

So what does this imply for the laughter found at a holiday gathering?

"People laugh harder when you know others," she says, "and you laugh more when you are fond of them or love them."

When it comes to Christmas cracker puns, she says, the feel-good factor is more likely to be caused not by the joke in itself, but from the reaction to it.

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

The Quest for the Ideal Festive Pun

Is it possible to discover the ultimate joke?

Likely not, but that has not prevented experts from trying to.

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

Over 40,000 jokes later, with ratings provided by 350,000 participants around the world, he has a clearer understanding than many as to what works and what fails.

The perfect festive cracker joke must be short, he explains.

"They must also need to be bad gags, puns that cause us to groan," he adds.

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

"This is because if nobody finds it funny – it's the joke's fault, not yours.

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

"That's a common moment around the gathering and I believe it's wonderful."