The Impact of Christmas Cracker Puns Do to Our Brains?

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

This joke is greeted with moans that resonate through a warehouse in the capital.

This describes a humor-evaluation session with a firm that makes products for social events. Its repertoire includes festive crackers.

The firm's founder grins, almost apologetically at the gag. But the pun has made the cut and will feature in upcoming crackers.

"You measure the gag by the number of moans and the intensity of the groans around the table," the founder explains.

The key to a good Christmas cracker pun is not the same as a stand-up gag in itself. It is entirely about the context - in this case, the shared amusement of the Christmas meal with elders, children and possibly neighbours.

"The goal is for the joke to be something that brings the eight-year-old in harmony with the 80-year-old," she states.

The Science Of Communal Amusement

Gathering to experience shared amusement is not only ancient, experts say, it is likely to be pre-human.

"Therefore when you are laughing with others at the Christmas dinner you are engaging in what's very likely a really ancient mammal play vocalisation," explains a professor.

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

Researchers have discovered that a absence of such interactions can seriously damage both psychological and bodily well-being.

"The people you converse with, and share laughter with, it results in enhanced amounts of 'happy chemical' release," the professor continues.

Endorphins are the brain's "feel-good compounds" and are produced both to alleviate stress and pain and in response to pleasurable experiences, such as chuckling with friends over a truly awful Christmas cracker gag.

"It's not simply chuckling at a silly pun with a Christmas cracker," the expert states. "You are actually doing a lot of the truly vital task of building, preserving the connections you have with the people you care about."

What Happens In the Mind?

But what is actually happening within the brain when we listen to a gag?

A tremendous amount occurs in response to comedy, it transpires.

Employing brain scanning technology, a kind of brain scanner which indicates which parts of the brain are more active, scientists have been able to chart the areas that get more blood.

Testing involves imaging the brains of volunteer subjects and then exposing them to a database of humorous phrases, paired with either a non-emotional sound, or pre-recorded chuckles.

"In the scanner we observed a really fascinating pattern of activation," says the professor.

A joke activates not just the parts of the mind in charge of hearing and understanding speech, but also neural areas associated with both preparation and starting motion and those involved in vision and recall.

Combine these elements as a whole, and people listening to a pun have a complex set of neural responses that underpin the amusement we experience.

The Contagious Nature of Laughter

Researchers discovered that when a humorous phrase is paired with chuckles there is a stronger response in the brain than the same word when followed by a neutral sound.

"This was in parts of the mind that you would employ to move your face into a smile or a chuckle," the professor explains.

It means we are not just reacting to humorous words, they are responding to the laughter that follows them.

Amusement, says the expert, can be contagious.

So what does this mean for the chuckles found at a holiday table?

"You laugh harder 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 Christmas cracker jokes, she explains, the positive effect is more likely to be triggered not by the gag in itself, but from the reaction to it.

"It's the laughter. The joke is the dreadful holiday cracker joke, and it's just a pretext to chuckle as a group."

The Search for the Ideal Cracker Joke

Will we ever discover the ultimate gag?

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

Years ago, a psychologist established a research search for the planet's most humorous gag.

Over tens of thousands of jokes later, with ratings provided by hundreds of thousands of participants around the world, he has a better understanding than most as to what works and what fails.

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

"They must also be bad gags, puns that cause us to groan," he continues.

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

"This is because if nobody finds it funny – it's the joke's fault, not yours.

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

"That's a common moment around the table and I believe it's wonderful."