How Do Festive Cracker Gags Influence Our Brains?

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

This joke is greeted with groans that echo through a warehouse in London.

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

The firm's founder smiles, nearly sheepishly at the gag. But the pun has made the cut and will feature in upcoming crackers.

"You measure the joke by the number of groans and the intensity of the groans around the table," she explains.

The key to a great Christmas cracker joke is not the identical as a stand-up gag in itself. It is entirely about the context - in this instance, the shared laughter of the holiday dinner table with elders, kids and possibly neighbours.

"The goal is for the joke to be a thing that brings the eight-year-old together with the 80-year-old," she states.

The Science Behind Shared Laughter

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

"So when you are chuckling with people at the Christmas table you are engaging in what's very likely a really ancient mammalian play vocalisation," says a neuroscience expert.

Shared laughter, she explains, aids in forge and strengthen social connections between people.

Researchers have found that a lack of these social exchanges can seriously damage mental and physical health.

"Those you converse with, and share laughter with, it leads to enhanced amounts of 'happy chemical' release," the professor continues.

Endorphins are the body's "happy chemicals" and are produced both to reduce tension and discomfort and in reaction to pleasurable activities, such as laughing with loved ones 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 actually doing a lot of the really important work of building, preserving the connections you have with the people you love."

What Happens In the Mind?

But what is actually taking place inside the brain when we listen to a gag?

An awful lot happens in reaction to comedy, it turns out.

Employing functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), a type of brain scanner which shows which parts of the brain are working harder, scientists have been able to chart the regions that receive more blood.

Testing entails scanning the brains of healthy subjects and then subjecting them to a collection of funny phrases, paired with either a neutral sound, or recorded chuckles.

"During the study we observed a really interesting activation pattern of activation," notes the neuroscientist.

A gag activates not just the areas of the brain responsible for hearing and understanding language, but also neural areas involved in both planning and starting motion and those linked to sight and memory.

Put all of this together, and people hearing a pun have a complex series of neural responses that support the amusement we experience.

The Contagious Nature of Chuckles

Researchers discovered that when a funny phrase is combined with chuckles there is a stronger reaction in the mind than the identical phrase when accompanied by a neutral sound.

"This was in areas of the brain that you would employ to move your expression into a smile or a laugh," the professor says.

It indicates we are not just reacting to funny words, they are reacting to the laughter that follows them.

Laughter, says the professor, can be contagious.

So what does this imply for the chuckles found at a holiday gathering?

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

When it comes to Christmas cracker puns, she explains, the positive factor is more likely to be caused not by the gag in itself, but from the reaction to it.

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

The Quest for the Perfect Cracker Joke

Is it possible to discover the perfect gag?

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

Years ago, a psychologist established a scientific project for the world's most humorous gag.

Over 40,000 jokes submitted, with scores provided by hundreds of thousands of participants around the world, he has a better understanding than most as to what works and what does not.

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

"But they also be poor gags, jokes that make us moan," he continues.

The increasingly "awful" the joke, he states the better.

"The reason is that if no-one laughs – it's the gag's fault, not your own.

"What's interesting about the Christmas cracker puns is that none of us find them funny.

"That's a common moment at the gathering and I think it's wonderful."