Why Are Yawns So Infectious

[chattanova]

Why Are Yawns Infectious ?

Is there an explanation at all? Even yawning dogs make me yawn :confused: just to hear it really does it for me.

Are you being tempted by these or does it have to be 'in the air' ?

http://img01.picoodle.com/img/img01/3/10/31/f_1m_dbecd01.jpg

http://img01.picoodle.com/img/img01/3/10/31/f_2m_6b08660.jpg

http://img03.picoodle.com/img/img03/3/10/31/f_22m_35aed98.jpg

http://img01.picoodle.com/img/img01/3/10/31/f_3m_d87b545.jpg

[jahzel]

...I just yawned looking at the pictures of yawners!

[homebrew1973]

What I don`t understand is why so many people cover their mouth when yawning but don`t cover their mouth with a hanky when coughing :confused:

[strt]

What I don`t understand is why so many people cover their mouth when yawning but don`t cover their mouth with a hanky when coughing :confused:

They don't? :eek:

[alzee]

What I don`t understand is why so many people cover their mouth when yawning but don`t cover their mouth with a hanky when coughing :confused:

an insufficent schooling in the arts of hanky!

or something :p

I'm interested in opinion on this though as I've often wondered about this.

While I didn't yawn whilst looking at those pics, I was certainly tempted!

[w1nstonsm1th84]

I yawned, when I looked at the thread title- honestly. :o

[biblegirl]

Smiles and laughs seem to be the same way! Have you ever heard someone laughing so hard that you just had to laugh that hard as well?

[krakhead]

From http://www.guardian.co.uk/notesandqueries/query/0,,-70784,00.html

Why is yawning infectious?
Gemma Martin, London UK

When you yawn, you equalise the pressure in your middle ear. This causes a small, localised pressure change around you, which affects others in the vicinity - and therefore they have to yawn to equalise the pressure in their own middle ears.
Joe Lambert, Norwich, England

It's a left over mechanism from our days as troupe creatures. Infectious yawning meant that we slept togther as a group when the most tired required to sleep.
Peter Brooke, By Kinmuck Scotland

In 1990,in Guardian Notes and Queries vol.1, an answer was that it was part of a mechanism to "synchronise wake/sleep cycles" among people in a social group, and that yawning is poorly understood. I don't know if progress has been made since then.
ivor solomons, norwich england
This applies only to group/troupe animals. It supplies a method for the most sleepy to forcefully communicate their need for rest and thus ensures that the group rests/sleeps together.
Peter Brooke, By Kinmuck, UK

Yawning is essentially a reflexive method of increasing oxygen intake. Oxygen intake in this manner is primarily used as a means to stay alert. When we observe others yawn it triggers a warning to ourselves that we are in a situation where we need to be alert, hence the infectious desire to yawn yourself.
Andy Preston, Otley, UK

If you accept the theory that yawning is related to breathing, as a means to either redistribute lung surfactant or to temporarily increase air intake, it may be that watching someone yawn triggers a subconcious concern about one's own ability to breathe, hence mimicking the yawn. Alternatively, it may be a throwback to primate warning signs, which involve displaying of teeth when threatened. The common response to this is a reciprocal baring of teeth.
Brendan O'Sullivan, Birmingham, UK

There is no one answer to this question, other than unsatisfying ones like "because we evolved that way". Or more accurately, some species in our distant past evolved that way (if you yawn at a dog, it will often yawn back, and chimpanzees also exhibit contageous yawning). Yawning might help communicate to other members of a group that it's time for everyone to settle down for a snooze, but (like laughing and frowning), it's hard to explain why this particular behaviour should represent this meaning.
Allan Dean, Wimbledon

I've heard it's because when the alpha male in the group of apes (which turned into us)had checked everything out and knew it was safe to sleep he would yawn to other apes, as a message that all was safe, and they in turn would yawn the message through the group, so it's instinctive.
Donna Thomas, Bristol, UK

It's because you're afraid that other people are stealing your air
Jimmy, Ceredigion, Wales

Steven Platek, a professor of cognitive neuroscience at Drexel University in Phildelphia, has carried out research correlating the "echoing" of yawns with the empathetic response of the individual. In other words it is a kind of social response, and those deficient in the ability to make emotional bonds (schizotypal individuals) are less likely to yawn back.
Tony Dunlop, Zeal Monachorum, England

I heard that infectious yawning was an instinctive survival technique, passing on the yawn from person to person meant that others had to stay alert as one was feeling sleepy.
Sofia Ropek Hewson, Aberystwyth, Wales

The term 'yawn' relates closely to the Greek word for Gape ('chainein'). Based on this, the action of yawning is clearly an expression of openness (gaping) to those around us. Perhaps a subconscious social statement of "opening out" to others to indicate the need for increased active engagement in response to a non-participative event, and due to our own instinctive need for this type of attention, the act is, unavoidably, infectious. I can't help but recall the events in a version of The Body Snatchers when all those infected would emit a screeching and infectious yawn, with which all their fellows would join in with, leaving only those outside of their society unable to oblige.
Paul Turton, Solihull, England

I particularly like 'Jimmy's' response! :D

Although http://www.thenakedscientists.com/HTML/content/questions/question/2067/ basically says - We don't know!

There we go then - definitive proof, if proof be need be! ;)

[w1nstonsm1th84]

Smiles and laughs seem to be the same way! Have you ever heard someone laughing so hard that you just had to laugh that hard as well?

No. :)




































I lied- yes! :o

[dangermouse]

I yawned, when I looked at the thread title- honestly. :o

me too :eek:

[armoured_amazon]

...I just yawned looking at the pictures of yawners!

*falls down laughing*

I started yawning reading the thread title and first post before I even got to the pics :D

[and justice for all]

Why Are Yawns Infectious ?
Is there an explanation at all? [...]

Human Mirror Neurons
brainconnection.com - Mirror Neuron Update - Page 2

http://slog.thestranger.com/files/2008/07/neuron.jpg

After the initial monkey research, neuroscientists used neuroimaging technologies to study mirror neurons in humans. These studies have already resulted in fascinating discoveries that are changing how we view many elements of human life. These elements include the development of articulate speech; the underlying mechanisms of empathy; maladies such as autism; the broad appeal of observing others who are engaged in sports, dance, or musical performance; and the effects of electronic media on behavior.

We humans have an incredibly complex mirror neuron system that encompasses our entire sensory system, that allows us to simulate the emotional lives of others, and that thus drives our rich cultural life.

When we observe someone yawn, it activates our brain's yawning system. Adults typically override the tendency and stifle the yawn—but if we stick out our tongue at an infant who is only a few hours old, it's probable that she will immediately reciprocate, even though she had never before stuck out her tongue (or even had any conscious awareness of her tongue). [...]

LINK;
http://www.brainconnection.com/content/226_2

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[codie]

I yawned about 6 times since reading this post