Why is yawning contagious?
5/5/202617 min
It’s easy to catch a yawn – you might even yawn while you’re reading this.
It’s not just humans that yawn, but all kinds of verterbrates, even fish! But contagious yawning is rarer.
Norman and Tegan unpack why we yawn in this live recording at the World Science Festival Brisbane.
References:
- Yawning: no effect of 3-5% CO2, 100% O2, and exercise
- Brain size and neuron numbers drive differences in yawn duration across mammals and birds
- Excessive yawning and thermoregulation: two case histories of chronic, debilitating bouts of yawning
- Different yawns, different functions? Testing social hypotheses on spontaneous yawning in Theropithecus gelada
- Why yawns are contagious—in all kinds of animals: Evolutionary biologist Andrew Gallup explains why we yawn after others
- Mirror neuron activity during contagious yawning—an fMRI study
- The mirror-neuron system
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Clips
Transcript preview
First 90 secondsTegan· Host0:00
[upbeat music] ABC Listen. Podcasts, radio, news, music, and more. No. [laughs] [yawns] Stop it. [yawns] No, I am so suggestible. I need you to stop. [laughs] I'm so suggestible that looking at the topic for today's What's That Rash, I started yawning without even thinking about it.
Norman· Host0:19
I'm, I'm, actually, it's, I'm seriously yawning, actually.
Tegan· Host0:21
It's not preemptive boredom, it's actually fascinating. But we are, of course, talking about why yawning is contagious.
Norman· Host0:29
'Cause you're listening to What's That Rash?
Tegan· Host0:30
It's the show where we answer the health questions everyone is asking, and this is a question that was asked at our recent live show at World Science Festival, Brisbane. [yawns] [upbeat music] This question's from Claire. What is yawning- Well, you can pretend to be Claire now. [laughs] Fine. Sorry.
Norman· Host0:50
We've had blokes before.
Tegan· Host0:51
My name's Claire. [laughs] Um, what is yawning and why is it contagious, even between different species? I'm barely awake after watching a pine marten yawn. [laughs] [laughs] Uh, we're all yawning 'cause of the pine marten, so I would like for us to do a little bit of research throughout this chat. If you yawn at any point, can you just keep a tally? Just keep a tally of yawns. I will be keeping a tally of my own yawns as well. [laughs] [laughs] Even saying the word is making me yawn.
Norman· Host1:19
I can see you.
Tegan· Host1:20
I can s- [laughs] You're starting.
Norman· Host1:22
You're trying to stop yourself.
Tegan· Host1:23
I see your yawn, sir. I see your yawn. Uh, what is yawning?
Norman· Host1:28
Are we so boring?
Tegan· Host1:29
Yeah, exactly.