Yawning...

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Why is yawning contagious? Is it physiological or psychological? Even Dr Mark (who's a researcher in biology at the uni) didn't know this morning on the bus!

― Nick Southall (Nick Southall), Monday, 28 July 2003 12:26 (twenty-two years ago)

residual saurian telepathy glitch

― mark s (mark s), Monday, 28 July 2003 12:28 (twenty-two years ago)

Dr Mark thought it might a be a psychological self-preservation instinct gas-panic jerk - "oh no, the person next to me needs oxygen, OH NO!" *gasp* *gasp* *gasp*

― Nick Southall (Nick Southall), Monday, 28 July 2003 12:32 (twenty-two years ago)

it's even contagious over the phone = that's some oxygen paranoia

― Snowy Mann (rdmanston), Monday, 28 July 2003 12:58 (twenty-two years ago)

interesting indeed, i have often wondered about this. *bagpuss style yawn*

― Pinkpanther (Pinkpanther), Monday, 28 July 2003 12:59 (twenty-two years ago)

yes it is contagious to EVEN THINK ABOUT IT

― Snowy Mann (rdmanston), Monday, 28 July 2003 13:01 (twenty-two years ago)

*imagines everyone clicking on this thread and bursting into yawning fits*

*yawns*

― caitlin (caitlin), Monday, 28 July 2003 13:18 (twenty-two years ago)

*stretches*

― Pinkpanther (Pinkpanther), Monday, 28 July 2003 13:22 (twenty-two years ago)

*scratch*

― Tad (llamasfur), Monday, 28 July 2003 13:22 (twenty-two years ago)

*******ooooooooooooooh mmmmmmmmyyyyyyyyyyyyy************

― Nick Southall (Nick Southall), Monday, 28 July 2003 13:27 (twenty-two years ago)

That's better.

― Nick Southall (Nick Southall), Monday, 28 July 2003 13:27 (twenty-two years ago)

I have just yawned thanks to this thread. Thanks.

― RickyT (RickyT), Monday, 28 July 2003 13:28 (twenty-two years ago)

it works over normal TV signals, too

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Monday, 28 July 2003 13:32 (twenty-two years ago)

http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_309.html

― teeny (teeny), Monday, 28 July 2003 13:45 (twenty-two years ago)

http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/yawning.html

― Jerry the Nipper (Jerrynipper), Monday, 28 July 2003 13:49 (twenty-two years ago)

Adelie penguins, for instance, employ yawning as part of their courtship ritual

Funny. I have that effect on guys too.

― C J (C J), Monday, 28 July 2003 13:50 (twenty-two years ago)

it's not mentioned in those links but when i was just a wee Hand i read somewhere that yawns are sometimes a response to feeling anxious or nervous, some subconscious fronting that we do: "i ain't skeered, look, i YAWN at this threat"

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Monday, 28 July 2003 13:54 (twenty-two years ago)

something about excess nitrogen...i don't know, i was sleeping during lecture...

― Orbit (Orbit), Monday, 28 July 2003 18:57 (twenty-two years ago)

not funny

― N. (nickdastoor), Tuesday, 29 July 2003 01:00 (twenty-two years ago)

Tracer's right I think, I always used to yawn uncontrollably before exams.

― colin s barrow (colin s barrow), Tuesday, 29 July 2003 05:06 (twenty-two years ago)

The best theory I've heard is that it's not "contagious," but the power of suggestion goes to work, and since most people keep about the same hours, well...

― Kenan Hebert (kenan), Tuesday, 29 July 2003 05:08 (twenty-two years ago)

residual saurian telepathy glitch

This is a Fall quote, right?

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Tuesday, 29 July 2003 16:30 (twenty-two years ago)

maybe it's not contagious, maybe YOU're just boring

― Horace Mann (Horace Mann), Tuesday, 29 July 2003 16:31 (twenty-two years ago)

According to yesterday's Guardian if your levels of empathy are low you're less likely to 'catch' a yawn. And the theory is that it was all about synchronising sleep and activity times in our distant past:

"Contagious yawning is known to be more than coincidence: studies have shown that 40 to 60% of people who watch videos or hear talk of yawning end up joining in. But psychologists have long wondered what causes it. "It seems like such a hokey phenomenon," says psychologist Steven Platek.
To try to get to the bottom of it, Platek and his colleagues at the State University of New York in Albany sat subjects in front of videos of people yawning and tallied their responses to find out why we are susceptible or immune to contracting yawns.

The tests showed that those impervious to the trigger also struggle to put themselves in other people's shoes, the psychologists say. For example, they might be less likely to recognise that a social faux pas or insult could cause offence.

Identifying with another's state of mind while they yawn may cause an unconscious impersonation, the team suggests. The findings, reported in the journal Cognitive Brain Research, might also explain why schizophrenics, who have particular difficulty in doing this, rarely catch yawns.

This makes evolutionary sense, agrees Ronald Baenninger, who has studied yawning at Temple University in Philadelphia. Contagious yawning may have helped our ancestors coordinate times of activity and rest. "It's important that all group members be ready to do the same thing at the same time," Baenninger says."

― James Ball (James Ball), Friday, 1 August 2003 12:14 (twenty-two years ago)

here's one i read a while ago

http://tinyurl.com/iqan

― colette (a2lette), Friday, 1 August 2003 12:37 (twenty-two years ago)

Once, in this detective novel, this guy thought he was being followed. To see if the individual was intend watching him, he faked a yawn and the tail yawned too! I've always wanted to do that.

― Dale the Titled (cprek), Friday, 1 August 2003 12:41 (twenty-two years ago)

When I was a kid, I read a children's book on how to be a detective and that was one of the tips to see if someone was watching you.

― NA (Nick A.), Friday, 1 August 2003 19:20 (twenty-two years ago)

http://www.urbanlegends.com/medical/yawning_orgasm.html
http://www.urbanlegends.com/medical/drug_yawn_cause_orgasm_2.html

― j.lu (j.lu), Friday, 1 August 2003 21:52 (twenty-two years ago)

I used to yawn when approaching from a slight distance people I knew (the rather awkward moment when they noticed my approach but I was not yet close enough to make conversation) as a sort of "Oh, I have things to do with my body that are completely normal and functioning and am not at all intimidated or put ill at ease by your presences my dears," type of statement until a friend pointed out how utterly idiotic I looked. It was more of a half-yawn actually, since I was a tad too self-conscious to unweild a head-raising air-sucking full-blown attempt.

― jesse, Saturday, 2 August 2003 00:29 (twenty-two years ago)

Cuh, just reading this thread makes me yawn! Oh, hang on, it's nearly threee in the morning.

― Matt (Matt), Saturday, 2 August 2003 00:42 (twenty-two years ago)

four years pass...

Haters don't catch the yawns

― carne asada, Wednesday, 15 August 2007 20:49 (eighteen years ago)

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