According to a study, our urge to yawn is increased if we are instructed to resist yawning. And no matter how hard we try to stifle a yawn, it might change how we yawn but it won't alter our propensity to yawn.
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#1 Ever wondered why even if we are not tired, we yawn if someone else does?
An area of our brain responsible for motor function may be to blame, a study suggests. Researchers at the University of Nottingham in the UK have found that our ability to resist yawning when someone else near us yawns is limited. Our urge to yawn is increased if we are instructed to resist yawning.
#2
Researchers at the University of Nottingham in the UK have found that our ability to resist yawning when someone else near us yawns is limited. Our urge to yawn is increased if we are instructed to resist yawning.
However, no matter how hard we try to stifle a yawn, it might change how we yawn but it would not alter our propensity to yawn, they said.
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#3
The study suggests that the human propensity for contagious yawning is triggered automatically by primitive reflexes in the primary motor cortex - an area of the brain responsible for motor function.
The researchers also found that the urge to yawn - our propensity for contagious yawning - is individual to each one of us.
#4
The study's authors also found that young people with autism, who may have trouble feeling empathy, were less likely to yawn contagiously than their peers without autism; children who showed more severe autistic symptoms were much less likely to yawn contagiously than those with milder symptoms.
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#5
“The findings may be important in understanding association between motor excitability and the occurrence of echophenomena in a wide range of conditions linked to increased cortical excitability and/or decreased physiological inhibition such as epilepsy, dementia, autism, and Tourette syndrome,” added Stephen Jackson, a Professor at the varsity.
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#6
It is a common form of echophenomena - the automatic imitation of another's words (echolalia) or actions (echopraxia). It is not just the humans who have a propensity for contagious yawning - chimpanzees and dogs do it too. To test the link between motor excitability and the neural basis for contagious yawning, the researchers used transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS). They recruited 36 adults to help with their study.
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#7
These volunteers viewed video clips showing someone else yawning and were instructed to either resist yawning or to allow themselves to yawn. The participants were videoed throughout, and their yawns and stifled yawns were counted. In addition, the intensity of each participant's perceived urge to yawn was continuously recorded. Using electrical stimulation they were also able to increase the urge to yawn.
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#8
Studies show that the younger you are, the more likely you are to catch yawns off your co-workers. In one study of 328 people who were shown a three-minute video of people yawning, 82% of people under 25 contagiously yawned, while just 60% of people ages 25 to 49 contagiously yawned. Only 41% of people over age 50 were contagious yawners.More research is needed, but the study authors speculate that people may generally become less susceptible to contagious yawning as they age, possibly because they pay less attention to the behavior in others.
