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"How much did Father Christmas's sled cost? Nothing, it was on the house."

This joke is greeted with groans that resonate through a storage facility in London.

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

The company's owner smiles, almost apologetically at the joke. But the joke has been selected and will appear in future crackers.

"The success is gauged by the joke by the volume of groans and the intensity of the groans around the table," she says.

The secret to a great holiday cracker joke is not the same as a stand-up joke per se. It is all about the context - in this instance, the communal laughter of the holiday dinner table with grandparents, kids and potentially friends.

"The goal is for the joke to be something that brings the child together with the grandparent," she states.

The Neuroscience Of Communal Laughter

Coming together to experience shared laughter is not only ancient, experts say, it is likely to be older than humanity.

"So when you are laughing with people at the holiday dinner you are dropping into what's very likely a truly primordial mammalian play vocalisation," says a professor.

Shared laughter, she explains, helps make and maintain social bonds between individuals.

Researchers have discovered that a lack of these social exchanges can significantly damage mental and physical well-being.

"Those you talk to, and share laughter with, it results in increased levels of endorphin release," the professor adds.

These natural chemicals are the body's "happy chemicals" and are produced both to alleviate tension and discomfort and in response to pleasurable experiences, such as chuckling with friends over a truly awful festive cracker gag.

"It's not simply chuckling at a foolish joke with a holiday cracker," the expert states. "You are in fact doing a lot of the really important work of building, preserving the social bonds you have with the people you care about."

Which Occurs Inside the Mind?

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

An awful lot occurs in reaction to humour, it turns out.

Using brain scanning technology, a type of brain scanner which shows which parts of the mind are working harder, researchers have been able to chart the areas that receive more blood flow.

The research involves scanning the brains of healthy subjects and then exposing them to a collection of humorous words, paired with either a non-emotional sound, or pre-recorded laughter.

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

A gag activates not just the areas of the mind responsible for auditory processing and understanding speech, but also brain areas involved in both planning and initiating motion and those linked to vision and memory.

Put these elements together, and individuals hearing a joke have a complex set of neural responses that support the amusement we hear.

The Contagious Power of Chuckles

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

"This activation occurred in areas of the brain that you would employ to contort your expression into a smile or a chuckle," the professor says.

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

Amusement, says the expert, can be infectious.

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

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

When it comes to festive cracker jokes, she explains, the positive effect is more probable to be caused not by the joke in itself, but from the response to it.

"It's the laughter. The gag is the terrible holiday cracker pun, and it's just a reason to laugh together."

The Search for the Perfect Cracker Joke

Is it possible to find the ultimate gag?

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

In 2001, a professor set up a research search for the world's funniest gag.

Over 40,000 jokes later, with ratings lodged by hundreds of thousands of participants around the world, he has a clearer understanding than many as to what succeeds and what does not.

The ideal festive cracker pun must be brief, he explains.

"But they also be poor jokes, jokes that make us groan," he adds.

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

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

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

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