Yawning spreads among people due to a mirrored response mechanism in the brain.
Title: What's Behind Those Contagious Yawns? Unraveling the Mystery
Lay it all out: You know it all too well - the nagging sensation in your jaw, the tickle in your throat, the uncontrollable urge to stretch your mouth wide, close your eyes, and take a deep breath. Yawning. A common phenomenon as widespread as laughter, and just as infectious. But why does this happen?
Christine Blume, a psychologist and sleep researcher at the University of Basel, shares a candid conversation with ntv.de, "We understand that yawning is contagious, but we're not entirely sure why." The enigma surrounding yawning persists, even though we yawn ourselves. So, let's dive in and explore.
What is Yawning? Yawning is a series of reflexive actions characterized by a deep breath, wide mouth opening, exhalation, and, optionally, sounds and eye squeezing.
Theories, Theories, Everywhere: Numerous theories propose yawning serves a biological function; perhaps to improve brain oxygenation or cool the brain. However, these theories remain contentious. For instance, yawning isn't as prevalent during sports, contrary to the improved oxygen supply theory. Moreover, cooling the brain through yawning remains a scientific puzzle. Blume suggests theories linking yawning to state transitions or evolutionary remnants are challenging to validate.
The Contagious Spread
However, yawning isn't all the same, warns Blume. Distinguish between spontaneous yawning—common among newborns—and contagious yawning, which surfaces around age five. While spontaneous yawning hints at a biological function, contagious yawning might be rooted in social development.
Researchers have recognized a social component that fuels contagious yawning. Participants exposed to videos of yawning people yawned more often than those who saw only happy faces. However, this social phenomenon hasn't yet shown a critical survival role, suggesting it may develop as humans mature socially.
Mirror Mirror — or is it Emphy?
Scientists once believed mirror neurons played a significant role in contagious yawning. Mirror neurons—brain cells activating when an individual performs an action and observes someone else performing the same action—are crucial to understanding and mimicking others. However, recent research casts doubt on this assumption.
Empathy, another intriguing factor, has emerged as a contender in the contagious yawning debate. People with higher empathy levels are more susceptible to catching yawns from others. On the other hand, psychopaths—individuals with reduced empathy—are less prone to contagious yawning. Yet, Blume urges caution, noting that group results should not be extrapolated to individual cases.
The Future of Yawning Research
Research on yawning is propelled by hypotheses, says Blume. At the moment, we explore different theories and test their validity, hoping to uncover the secrets of yawning and, by extension, its contagiousness. Fortunately, yawning isn't exclusive to Homo sapiens. Many mammals and various vertebrates yawn, and even dogs can catch human yawns if they're from a familiar source.
So, keep yawning, and let's hope science unravels the mysteries surrounding this peculiar, yet ubiquitous behavior!
Community research has shown that contagious yawning might be associated with social development, hinting at a potential connection between yawning and mental health.
The link between empathy levels and susceptibility to catching yawns from others suggests that health-and-wellness and mental-health research could benefit from further studying the role of yawning in human interactions.
