How Do Holiday Cracker Puns Affect Our Minds?

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

This one-liner is greeted with moans that echo through a storage facility in the capital.

This describes a humor-evaluation session with a company that produces supplies for social events. Its repertoire features Christmas crackers.

The firm's owner smiles, nearly sheepishly at the joke. But the joke has made the cut and will feature in future crackers.

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

The secret to a good Christmas cracker pun is not the identical as a good joke in itself. It is entirely about the context - in this instance, the communal amusement of the holiday dinner table with grandparents, kids and possibly friends.

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

The Neuroscience Behind Communal Amusement

Gathering to experience shared laughter is not only ancient, scientists argue, it is probably to be pre-human.

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

Communal amusement, she explains, aids in make and maintain social connections between individuals.

Scientists have found that a absence of such interactions can seriously harm mental and physical well-being.

"The people you talk to, and laugh with, it results in increased levels of 'happy chemical' uptake," the professor continues.

These natural chemicals are the body's "feel-good compounds" and are released both to reduce tension and discomfort and in response to pleasurable activities, such as chuckling with friends over a particularly terrible festive cracker joke.

"You're not just chuckling at a foolish joke with a holiday cracker," she states. "You are actually doing a lot of the truly vital work of building, preserving the connections you have with those you care about."

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 humour, it turns out.

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

The research involves imaging the minds of healthy subjects and then subjecting them to a collection of funny words, accompanied by either a non-emotional sound, or pre-recorded laughter.

"During the study we observed a very interesting pattern of neural activity," says the neuroscientist.

A gag stimulates not just the parts of the mind in charge of hearing and interpreting speech, but also brain regions associated with both planning and starting motion and those linked to vision and memory.

Combine these elements together, and individuals hearing a pun have a sophisticated set of neural reactions that support the laughter we hear.

The Infectious Power of Chuckles

Scientists found that when a funny word is combined with laughter there is a greater response in the mind than the same word when followed by a neutral sound.

"This activation occurred in parts of the brain that you would use to contort your expression into a smile or a laugh," the professor says.

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

Laughter, according to the professor, can be infectious.

So what does this imply for the laughter heard at a holiday table?

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

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

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

The Search for the Perfect Festive Pun

Is it possible to find the perfect joke?

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

In 2001, a psychologist set up a research project for the planet's most humorous joke.

More than tens of thousands of gags submitted, with ratings lodged by 350,000 people around the world, he has a clearer idea than most as to what works and what fails.

The ideal Christmas cracker joke needs to be short, he says.

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

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

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

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

"That's a common experience at the table and I think it's wonderful."