How Do Festive Cracker Jokes Do to Our Minds?

"What was the price did Santa's sled cost? Zero, it was on the house."

This quip is met by moans that echo through a warehouse in the capital.

This describes a joke-testing session with a firm that produces products for gatherings. Its catalogue includes festive crackers.

The firm's founder smiles, nearly apologetically 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 at the table," the founder explains.

The key to a great holiday cracker joke is not the identical as a good gag in itself. It is all about the setting - in this case, the shared amusement of the Christmas dinner table with elders, kids and possibly neighbours.

"You want the joke to be a thing that unites the eight-year-old in harmony with the 80-year-old," she states.

The Neuroscience Of Communal Laughter

Coming together to enjoy shared amusement is not only nothing new, scientists say, it is likely to be older than humanity.

"Therefore when you are laughing with people at the holiday table you are dropping into what's very likely a really primordial mammal social sound," explains a neuroscience expert.

Shared laughter, she says, aids in make and maintain social connections between individuals.

Researchers have discovered that a absence of these social exchanges can significantly damage both psychological and bodily health.

"The people you talk to, and share laughter with, it leads to enhanced levels of 'happy chemical' uptake," she adds.

These natural chemicals are the body's "happy chemicals" and are released both to alleviate stress and pain and in response to enjoyable experiences, such as chuckling with loved ones over a truly awful Christmas cracker gag.

"You're not just laughing at a foolish joke with a holiday cracker," the expert says. "You are in fact doing a lot of the really vital task of building, preserving the social bonds you have with those you care about."

Which Occurs In the Brain?

But what is actually happening within the brain when we hear a joke?

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

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

Testing entails scanning the minds of volunteer subjects and then exposing 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 activation pattern of neural activity," says the neuroscientist.

A gag stimulates not just the areas of the brain in charge of hearing and understanding language, but also brain areas involved in both planning and initiating movement and those involved in sight and recall.

Combine all of this together, and individuals hearing a joke have a sophisticated set of neural reactions that underpin the amusement we experience.

The Contagious Power of Laughter

Researchers found that when a humorous word is paired with chuckles there is a greater response in the brain than the identical phrase when followed by a neutral sound.

"This was in parts of the mind that you would use to contort your expression into a grin or a chuckle," the professor explains.

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

Laughter, says the expert, can be contagious.

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

"People laugh more when you are familiar with others," she says, "and laughter increases further when you are fond of them or care for them."

When it comes to Christmas cracker puns, she explains, the positive effect is more probable to be triggered not by the joke itself, but from the reaction to it.

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

The Quest for the Perfect Festive Pun

Is it possible to find the ultimate gag?

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

In 2001, a professor established a research project for the planet's most humorous joke.

More than tens of thousands of jokes submitted, with ratings lodged by 350,000 participants around the world, he has a better understanding than many as to what succeeds and what fails.

The perfect festive cracker pun must be brief, he says.

"They must also need to be poor jokes, jokes that make us moan," he adds.

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

"This is because 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 humorous.

"It creates a shared experience around the gathering and I believe it's lovely."