How Do Christmas Cracker Puns Influence Our Minds?

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

This one-liner is met by moans that echo through a warehouse in the capital.

We're at a humor-evaluation meeting with a firm that produces products for gatherings. Its catalogue features Christmas crackers.

The company's owner smiles, almost sheepishly at the joke. But the joke has made the cut and will feature in upcoming crackers.

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

The secret to a good holiday cracker joke is not the identical as a stand-up joke per se. It is all about the context - in this case, the shared amusement of the Christmas meal with grandparents, kids and possibly friends.

"The goal is for the joke to be a thing that brings the child in harmony with the grandparent," she states.

The Neuroscience Behind Shared Laughter

Coming together to enjoy shared amusement is not only ancient, experts say, it is probably to be older than humanity.

"So when you are laughing with others around the Christmas table you are engaging in what's very likely a really ancient mammalian social sound," explains a professor.

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

Scientists have found that a absence of such social exchanges can seriously harm mental and physical health.

"Those you talk to, and share laughter with, it leads to enhanced levels of 'happy chemical' release," she continues.

Endorphins are the body's "happy chemicals" and are released both to reduce stress and pain and in reaction to enjoyable activities, such as laughing with friends over a particularly terrible Christmas cracker joke.

"You're not just laughing at a silly joke with a holiday cracker," she says. "You are actually performing a lot of the truly important work of making, maintaining the social bonds you have with the people you care about."

What Happens Inside the Brain?

But what is truly happening inside the brain when we listen to a gag?

A tremendous amount happens in reaction to humour, it transpires.

Using brain scanning technology, a kind of brain scanner which indicates which areas of the mind are working harder, scientists have been able to map the areas that receive more blood flow.

Testing involves scanning the minds of healthy subjects and then exposing them to a collection of funny phrases, accompanied by either a non-emotional 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 parts of the brain in charge of hearing and interpreting language, but also neural regions associated with both planning and starting movement and those linked to vision and recall.

Put all of this together, and people hearing a joke have a complex set of neural responses that underpin the laughter we hear.

The Infectious Power of Chuckles

Scientists discovered that when a funny word is paired with laughter there is a stronger response in the brain than the same phrase when accompanied by a neutral sound.

"This activation occurred in areas of the mind that you would use to move your expression into a grin or a chuckle," she says.

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

Laughter, says the expert, can be contagious.

So what does this imply for the laughter heard around a holiday gathering?

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

When it comes to Christmas cracker puns, she says, the feel-good factor is more probable to be caused not by the gag itself, but from the response to it.

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

The Search for the Perfect Cracker Joke

Is it possible to discover the perfect gag?

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

Years ago, a psychologist set up a scientific search for the world's funniest joke.

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

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

"They must also need to be bad jokes, jokes that make us moan," he continues.

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

"The reason is that if no-one laughs – it's the joke's fault, not yours.

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

"That's a shared moment around the table and I think it's lovely."