How Do Holiday Cracker Gags Influence Our Brains?

"How much did Santa's sleigh cost? Nothing, it was on the house."

This quip is met by groans that resonate through a storage facility in London.

This describes a humor-evaluation session with a company that makes products for social events. Its catalogue features Christmas crackers.

The company's owner smiles, nearly apologetically at the joke. But the joke has been selected and will feature in upcoming crackers.

"The success is gauged by the gag by the volume of groans and the loudness of the groans at the table," she explains.

The key to a great Christmas cracker pun is not the identical as a good joke in itself. It is entirely about the context - in this instance, the shared amusement of the Christmas meal with elders, kids and potentially friends.

"The goal is for the joke to be something that unites the eight-year-old together with the grandparent," she states.

The Science Of Shared Laughter

Coming together to experience communal amusement is not only nothing new, experts argue, it is probably to be older than humanity.

"So when you are chuckling with others around the holiday dinner you are engaging in what's very likely a truly ancient mammal play sound," explains a professor.

Shared laughter, she explains, helps make and maintain social connections between people.

Scientists have found that a lack of such interactions can significantly damage both psychological and bodily well-being.

"The people you talk to, and laugh with, it results in enhanced amounts of 'happy chemical' release," the professor continues.

These natural chemicals are the body's "feel-good compounds" and are released both to reduce stress and pain and in response to pleasurable experiences, such as laughing with friends over a particularly terrible festive cracker gag.

"You're not just chuckling at a foolish joke with a Christmas cracker," the expert states. "You are actually performing a lot of the really vital task of building, preserving the connections you have with the people you love."

What Occurs In the Brain?

But what is truly taking place inside the mind when we listen to a gag?

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

Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), a type of neural imager which indicates which areas of the brain are working harder, scientists have been able to chart the areas that receive more blood.

Testing involves scanning the minds of healthy participants and then exposing them to a database of funny phrases, accompanied by either a neutral sound, or pre-recorded chuckles.

"In the scanner we got a very fascinating pattern of neural activity," says the neuroscientist.

A gag activates not just the areas of the brain in charge of hearing and understanding language, but also brain regions associated with both preparation and initiating movement and those involved in vision and recall.

Put these elements together, and individuals hearing a pun have a sophisticated set of neural responses that underpin the amusement we hear.

The Contagious Power of Laughter

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

"This activation occurred in areas of the brain that you would employ to move your face into a smile or a laugh," she says.

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

Laughter, says the expert, can be contagious.

So what does this imply for the laughter found around a holiday table?

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

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

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

The Quest for the Perfect Cracker Joke

Will we ever find the ultimate joke?

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

Years ago, a psychologist set up a scientific search for the planet's funniest gag.

More than tens of thousands of gags later, with ratings provided by hundreds of thousands of participants globally, he has a clearer idea than many as to what succeeds and what does not.

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

"But they also need to be bad jokes, puns that make us moan," he adds.

The increasingly "terrible" the gag, he says the better.

"The reason is that if nobody finds it funny – it's the joke's shortcoming, not your own.

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

"It creates a common moment at the gathering and I think it's lovely."