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

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

This describes a joke-testing meeting with a firm that makes products for gatherings. Its repertoire features festive crackers.

The firm's founder grins, almost sheepishly at the joke. But the pun has made the cut and will feature in future crackers.

"You measure the joke by the number of groans and the loudness of the groans around the table," the founder says.

The secret to a great holiday cracker pun is not the identical as a good gag in itself. It is all about the context - in this case, the communal amusement of the Christmas dinner table with grandparents, kids and possibly neighbours.

"You want the gag to be something that unites the child in harmony with the 80-year-old," she adds.

The Science Of Communal Laughter

Gathering to enjoy communal laughter is not only ancient, scientists say, it is likely to be older than humanity.

"Therefore when you are laughing with others at the holiday dinner you are dropping into what's almost certainly a really primordial mammal play sound," says a professor.

Shared amusement, she explains, helps forge and strengthen social bonds between individuals.

Scientists have discovered that a absence of these interactions can seriously damage mental and physical well-being.

"Those you talk to, and laugh with, it leads to enhanced amounts of 'happy chemical' uptake," the professor continues.

These natural chemicals are the brain's "happy chemicals" and are released both to alleviate stress and pain and in response to enjoyable activities, such as chuckling with friends over a particularly awful Christmas cracker gag.

"It's not simply laughing at a silly joke with a holiday cracker," she says. "You are actually doing a lot of the really vital task of making, maintaining the connections you have with the people you care about."

What Happens In the Mind?

But what is actually happening inside the mind when we hear a gag?

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

Employing brain scanning technology, a type of neural imager which indicates which areas of the mind are working harder, researchers have been able to map the areas that receive more blood.

Testing involves scanning the minds of healthy subjects and then subjecting them to a collection of funny phrases, accompanied by either a non-emotional sound, or recorded chuckles.

"In the scanner we got a really interesting pattern of neural activity," says the professor.

A joke activates not just the areas of the mind responsible for auditory processing and interpreting language, but also neural areas involved in both planning and starting motion and those linked to vision and recall.

Put all of this as a whole, and individuals hearing a joke have a complex set of brain reactions that underpin the amusement we hear.

The Infectious Nature of Laughter

Scientists found that when a funny word is combined with chuckles there is a greater reaction in the brain than the identical word when followed by a neutral sound.

"This activation occurred in parts of the mind that you would employ to contort your face into a smile or a laugh," the professor says.

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

Amusement, according to the professor, can be contagious.

So what does this imply for the chuckles found at a Christmas table?

"People laugh harder when you are familiar with others," she says, "and laughter increases more when you like them or love them."

When it comes to festive cracker jokes, she explains, the positive effect is more likely to be caused not by the gag itself, but from the reaction to it.

"It's the laughter. The gag is the dreadful holiday cracker joke, and it's just a pretext to laugh as a group."

The Search for the Perfect Festive Pun

Is it possible to discover the perfect joke?

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

Years ago, a psychologist established a scientific search for the planet's funniest gag.

Over 40,000 gags submitted, with ratings provided by 350,000 participants around the world, he has a better idea than many as to what works and what does not.

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

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

The increasingly "awful" the gag, he says the more effective.

"This is because if no-one laughs – it's the joke's shortcoming, not your own.

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

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