Why is yawning so contagious?
Contagious yawning is real, scientists say, and it’s “probably programmed into us,” according to Dr. William Broughton, director of the Sleep Disorders Center at the University of South Alabama Knollwood Hospital. The action of a mouth opening is not what compels others to yawn, Broughton said. Studies have demonstrated that showing someone a photo of a wide-open mouth does not induce a yawn. Conversely, holding a hand over the mouth while yawning doesn’t prevent it from being contagious, Broughton said. Contagious yawns appear “basically to be a visual response,” Broughton said. Researchers recently found that yawning isn’t only catching among people; it is also among chimpanzees. (Click here for a brief video from this research.) No one has devised a fully convincing explanation of why. Compounding the mystery is the odd way in which the contagious power of yawning is largely unconscious. We can see someone yawn, yearn to replicate the action ourselves, and do it, all without thinkin
“The yawn reflex is often described as contagious: if one person yawns, this will cause another person to “sympathetically” yawn. Observing another person’s yawning face (especially his/her eyes), or even reading about or thinking about yawning, can cause a person to yawn. However, only about 55% of people in a given audience will respond to such a stimulus; fewer if only the mouth is shown in a visual stimulus. The proximate cause for contagious yawning may lie with mirror neurons, i.e. neurons in the frontal cortex of certain vertebrates, which upon being exposed to a stimulus from conspecific (same species) and occasionally interspecific organisms, activates the same regions in the brain. Mirror neurons have been proposed as a driving force for imitation which lies at the root of much human learning, e.g. language acquisition. Yawning may be an offshoot of the same imitative impulse. A 2007 study found that children with autism spectrum disorders, unlike typical children, did not ya
After doing a little resreach on this question I found out that no one person really knows why we yawn, but humans are the only ones that do this when some one else does it, as I was reading all the articles every one seemed to think it was caused by a differetn reason. I did however find one artcle which i have listed below, that seemed to list all of the reasons we yawn, Happy reading (O: More From The Press-Register | Subscribe To The Press-Register Health Question Why are yawns contagious? Sunday, March 7, 2004 By MONIQUE CURET Staff Reporter Cover your mouth if you want to, but it won’t keep the next guy from “catching” your yawn. Contagious yawning is real, scientists say, and it’s “probably programmed into us,” according to Dr. William Broughton, director of the Sleep Disorders Center at the University of South Alabama Knollwood Hospital. The action of a mouth opening is not what compels others to yawn, Broughton said. Studies have demonstrated that showing someone a photo of a
There seems to be an evolutionary purpose so I’m not sure I’d call it ‘wierd’ The proximate cause for contagious yawning may lie with mirror neurons, i.e. neurons in the frontal cortex of certain vertebrates, which upon being exposed to a stimulus from conspecific (same species) and occasionally interspecific organisms, activates the same regions in the brain[4]. Mirror neurons have been proposed as a driving force for imitation which lies at the root of much human learning, e.g. language acquisition. Yawning may be an offshoot of the same imitative impulse. At a distal level (in terms of evolutionary advantage), yawning might be a herd instinct.[5] Other theories suggest that the yawn serves to synchronize mood behavior among gregarious animals, similar to the howling of the wolf pack during a full moon. It signals tiredness to other members of the group in order to synchronize sleeping patterns and periods of activity. It can serve as a warning in displaying large, canine teeth. This
Contagiousness The yawn reflex is often described as contagious: if one person yawns, this will cause another person to “sympathetically” yawn.[3] The reasons for this are unclear; however, recent research suggests that yawning might be a herd instinct.[4] Other theories suggest that the yawn serves to synchronize mood behavior among gregarious animals, similar to the howling of the wolf pack during a full moon. It signals tiredness to other members of the group in order to synchronize sleeping patterns and periods of activity. It can serve as a warning in displaying large, canine teeth. This phenomenon has been observed among various primates. The threat gesture is a way of maintaining order in the primates’ social structure. The contagion of yawning is interspecific, for example a human yawning in front of a pet dog can incite the dog to yawn as well. Oddly, sometimes sympathetic yawning may be caused by simply looking at a picture of a person or animal yawning, or even seeing the wo
