Why do we yawn - and is it contagious?

andyandy

anthropomorphic ape
andyandy
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I ask this, as i yawn away this morning spreading an epidemic of yawning across the office :D

so, why do we yawn - and is it contagious?
 
a good introduction to the topic.....

Dr. Robert Provine, a psychologist specializing in psychobiology, is not only the world's foremost authority on yawning, but has a special interest in why yawning is contagious.
Provine defines yawning as the gaping of the mouth accompanied by a long inspiration followed by a shorter expiration. This definition seems to support the thinking of some who believe the purpose of a yawn is to draw more oxygen into the system, but Provine disagrees. He conducted an experiment in which he taped the mouths of his subject shut. Although they could yawn without opening their mouths, they felt unsatisfied, as if they weren't really yawning, even though their noses were clear and were capable of drawing in as much oxygen as if their mouths were open. From this experiment, Provine concludes that the function of yawning is not related to respiration.

...snip...

Yet, Provine is not willing to rule out our evolutionary theory either. Perhaps at one time, the baring of teeth sometimes apparent in yawning could have been an aggressive act. Or more likely, combined with stretching, it could have prepared a group for the rigors of work or battle. When bored or sleepy, a good yawn might have revivified ancient cavemen and warriors.
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http://www.4to40.com/health/index.asp?article=health_yawningcontagious
 
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andyandy said:
I ask this, as i yawn away this morning spreading an epidemic of yawning across the office :D

so, why do we yawn - and is it contagious?
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It must be, even long distance - I just yawned twice three times four times after reading your post.
 
oh, the article appears to be snipped...oops :)

well, this is the key paragraph....


55% of subjects viewing a five-minute series of thirty yawns yawned within five minutes of the first videotaped yawn, compared to the 21% yawn rate of those who watched a five-minute type of man smiling thirty times.

• Blind people yawn more frequently when listening to an audiotape of yawns.

• People who read about yawning starts yawning. People who even think about yawning start yawning.

If we are so sensitive to these cues, Provine concludes that there must be some reason for our built-in neurological yawn detectors. He concludes that yawning is not only s stereotyped action pattern in itself, but also a "releasing stimulus" that triggers another consistently patterned activity (i.e., another yawn) in other individuals. Yawn have the power to synchronize some of the physiological functions of a group, to alter the blood pressure and heart rate (which can rise 30% during a yawn).
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http://www.4to40.com/health/index.asp?article=health_yawningcontagious
 
I remember that one of Jay Ingram's books (I think it was The Barmaid's Brain) had a chapter on this subject. Not too many conclusions though.

It's quite interesting. I think the idea that there's a social aspect to it, and information being conveyed, is likely to be true. I think it's also very similar to the way that most animals convey information to each other, and it's neat that we still do so in much the same ways (in spite of the fact that we have language as well). It's also interesting that we are often oblivious to many of the prelinguistic methods of communication.

It'll be interesting if we get a more concrete answer some day!
 
I've discusssed this with friends. My pet theory is that yawning signals readiness for sexual activity. This is a bit politically incorrect but I've noticed (perhaps counterintuitively) that women almost never reject or react negatively to flirtatious eye contact when done while they're yawning. The reaction results seem to be much better than when done at other times when they're not yawning.

Speculatively, perhaps the body signals us to yawn when (1) we're not being chased by a predator, (2) we're not hungry or thirsty looking for food or water, and (3) have been in our environment long enough that we're comfortable and safe in it. At these moment, it probably feels we should be engaged in procreation. And if other members of our group feels (1), (2), and (3) have been satisfied and are yawning, those may be cues for us too that it's the right time to procreate and that we should be yawning too.

ETA: Also counterintuitively, I think people yawn more when they're around others they find sexually attractive -I wonder if this has been tested experimentally. Also when it's an inappropriate environment to signal sexually, we're encouraged by etiquette norms to cover our mouths when we yawn (similar to how women are expected by those type etiquette norms to keep their legs closed or crossed when sitting).
 
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Dave1001 said:
I've discusssed this with friends. My pet theory is that yawning signals readiness for sexual activity. This is a bit politically incorrect but I've noticed (perhaps counterintuitively) that women almost never reject or react negatively to flirtatious eye contact when done while they're yawning. The reaction results seem to be much better than when done at other times when they're not yawning.

Speculatively, perhaps the body signals us to yawn when (1) we're not being chased by a predator, (2) we're not hungry or thirsty looking for food or water, and (3) have been in our environment long enough that we're comfortable and safe in it. At these moment, it probably feels we should be engaged in procreation. And if other members of our group feels (1), (2), and (3) have been satisfied and our yawning, those may be cues for us too that it's the right time to procreate and that we should be yawning too.

ETA: Also counterintuitively, I think people yawn more when they're around others they find sexually attractive -I wonder if this has been tested experimentally. Also when it's an inappropriate environment to signal sexually, we're encouraged by etiquette norms to cover our mouths when we yawn (similar to how women are expected by those type etiquette norms to keep their legs closed or crossed when sitting).
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it's an interesting theory - rather than come to bed eyes, maybe it should be come to bed yawns :)

when you share a yawn you are (even inadvertantly) sharing an empathetic bond - so i can see why members of the opposite sex would respond better to flirtatious eye contact - although i admit it is not something i have tried myself.....yet.......:D
 
andyandy said:
it's an interesting theory - rather than come to bed eyes, maybe it should be come to bed yawns :)

when you share a yawn you are (even inadvertantly) sharing an empathetic bond - so i can see why members of the opposite sex would respond better to flirtatious eye contact - although i admit it is not something i have tried myself.....yet.......:D
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To clarify, it works in my observation when the female party is yawning even if I am not yawning. I recommend you give it a try -but I disclaim liability for any adverse results. :p
 
I always remembered the theory that it was a need for more oxygen. My own pet theory for the "contagious" part was that everyone else in the room then had that much less oxygen to use, and so needed to yawn themselves.

Unfortunately my theory breaks down when, if you take the case to the logical result, everyone in the room yawns until they asphyxiate.
 
I think that the word yawn is enough to remind me of yawning, as I've now looked at this thread about four times, and immediatelly started yawning on every occasion.
 
Tanja said:
I think that the word yawn is enough to remind me of yawning, as I've now looked at this thread about four times, and immediatelly started yawning on every occasion.
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from the linked article...

People who read about yawning starts yawning. People who even think about yawning start yawning.
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which is strange.....although maybe you just find this thread boring :D
 
Dave1001 said:
To clarify, it works in my observation when the female party is yawning even if I am not yawning. I recommend you give it a try -but I disclaim liability for any adverse results. :p
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I don't recommend doing this at work. I have 5 minutes to clean out my desk and they've already called lawyers.

How many other animals yawn? Do you think dogs yawn for the same reason humans do?
 
more theories, from wiki.....

The yawn reflex is often described as contagious: if one person yawns, this will cause another person to "sympathetically" yawn.[3] 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 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 word yawn.
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yawn#_note-1
 
So, yawning as some kind of body language? un-spoken communication? Makes sense. How about yawning throughout the world? Any societal differences, as in body language in general?
 
Dave1001 said:
I've discusssed this with friends. My pet theory is that yawning signals readiness for sexual activity. This is a bit politically incorrect but I've noticed (perhaps counterintuitively) that women almost never reject or react negatively to flirtatious eye contact when done while they're yawning. The reaction results seem to be much better than when done at other times when they're not yawning.
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AN interesting idea and potentially part of the story, but I somehow doubt it's it entirely.
We have a 2 week old baby boy(:D) and the first thing I've seen him do is yawn a lot. I have a hard time thinking he's signaling his sexual availability. Although, it may definitely be part of that pack syncronization idea. It's hard not to see him yawn and get all googlly gushy over him.

As for dogs yawning. Has anyone tried to see if yawning is communicable across species? When my dogs yawn, sometimes I'll do it. But I've never been able to get them to yawn by yawning in front of them. Although, I've only tried it a couple of times.
 
joobz said:
As for dogs yawning. Has anyone tried to see if yawning is communicable across species? When my dogs yawn, sometimes I'll do it. But I've never been able to get them to yawn by yawning in front of them. Although, I've only tried it a couple of times.
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Same here, I have tried but he does not respond to my yawning. He will yawn late at night but strangely he also yawns when I yell at him.

nimzo
 
I vaguely remember seeing a show or reading an article about yawning being a part of pack/herd behaviour, that it helps to get a group of animals into the same sleep/wake cycle. Made sense to me.
 
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