Now You Know

Why Are Yawns Contagious?

We know that much of yawning is due to suggestibility- it's infectious. You don't need to actually see a person yawn to involuntarily yawn yourself; hearing someone yawn or even reading about yawning can cause the same reaction.

But contagious yawning goes beyond mere suggestibility. Recent studies show that the phenomenon is also related to our predisposition toward empathy- the ability to understand and connect with others' emotional states. It sounds strange, but whether or not you're susceptible to yawning may actually to relate to how much empathy you feel for others.

Empathy is an important part of cognitive development. A lack of early empathy has been shown to lead to the development of sociopathic behavior in adults.

So empathy is important, sure, but how could it possibly be related to contagious yawning? In the studies of psychologists at Leeds University in England, researchers selected 40 psychology students and 40 engineering students. Each student was made to wait individually in a waiting room, along with an undercover assisstant who yawned ten times in as many minutes. The students were then administered an emotional quotient test: students were shown 40 images of eyes & asked what emotion each of them displayed.

The results support the idea that contagious yawning is linked to empathy. The psychology students- whose future profession requires them to focus on others- yawned contagioualy an average of 5.5 times in the waiting room & scored 28/40 on the emotional test. The engineering students- who tend to focus on things like numbers and systems- yawned an average of 1.5 times and scored 25.5/40 on the test. The difference doesn't sound like much, but researchers consider it significant.

These findings support what neurologists found through brain imaging: contagious yawning is associated with the same parts of the brain that deal with empathy. These regions, the precuneus and posterior temporal gyrus, are located in the back of the brain.

Source: {http://www.smartsheet.com/c/online-gantt-chart}