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"What was the price did Santa's sled cost? Nothing, it was on the house."

This quip is greeted with groans that echo through a storage facility in London.

We're at a joke-testing meeting with a firm that produces products for gatherings. Its catalogue features festive crackers.

The company's owner grins, nearly apologetically at the joke. But the joke has made the cut and will appear in upcoming crackers.

"The success is gauged by the joke by the number of moans and the loudness of the groans at the table," the founder explains.

The secret to a good holiday cracker pun is not the identical as a stand-up joke per se. It is entirely about the setting - in this instance, the shared laughter of the holiday meal with grandparents, children and possibly friends.

"The goal is for the joke to be something that unites the eight-year-old together with the grandparent," she adds.

The Neuroscience Behind Communal Laughter

Coming together to enjoy shared amusement is not only nothing new, experts say, it is probably to be pre-human.

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

Communal amusement, she says, helps forge and strengthen social connections between people.

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

"The people you talk to, and laugh with, it leads to increased amounts of endorphin release," the professor adds.

These natural chemicals are the body's "feel-good compounds" and are released both to alleviate stress and pain and in reaction to enjoyable activities, such as chuckling with loved ones over a particularly terrible festive cracker gag.

"You're not just chuckling at a silly pun with a holiday cracker," the expert says. "You are in fact doing a lot of the really important task of building, preserving the connections you have with those you care about."

Which Occurs In the Brain?

But what is actually happening inside the mind when we listen to a joke?

A tremendous amount occurs in response to comedy, it turns out.

Employing brain scanning technology, a kind of brain scanner which shows which parts of the mind are more active, scientists have been able to map the areas that receive more blood.

Testing entails imaging the brains of healthy subjects and then subjecting them to a collection of humorous phrases, accompanied by either a neutral sound, or pre-recorded chuckles.

"During the study we observed a really fascinating pattern of neural activity," notes the neuroscientist.

A gag stimulates not just the parts of the brain responsible for hearing and interpreting speech, but also brain areas involved in both planning and starting movement and those involved in sight and memory.

Put these elements together, and individuals hearing a pun have a sophisticated set of brain responses that support the laughter we experience.

The Infectious Power of Laughter

Researchers found that when a funny phrase is paired with laughter there is a stronger response in the brain than the same word when followed by a neutral sound.

"This was in areas of the mind that you would employ to contort your face into a smile or a chuckle," she explains.

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

Amusement, according to the professor, can be infectious.

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

"You laugh more when you know others," she notes, "and you laugh further when you are fond of them or care for them."

When it comes to festive cracker puns, she says, the feel-good effect is more probable to be triggered not by the gag in itself, but from the reaction to it.

"The laughter is key. The gag is the terrible Christmas cracker joke, and it's just a reason to chuckle together."

The Search for the Perfect Cracker Joke

Is it possible to find the ultimate joke?

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

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

Over 40,000 gags submitted, with scores provided by 350,000 people around the world, he has a better understanding than most as to what works and what fails.

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

"They must also be bad gags, puns that make us moan," he adds.

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

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

"The fascinating part about the Christmas cracker puns is that not one person considers them funny.

"That's a shared moment around the gathering and I believe it's lovely."