Does anyone know scientifically why yawning is contagious?

Answer 1

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

Answer 2

in our brain we have a portion dedicated to mimicing or the thing that makes us wanna fit into the crowd and our brain makes us think yawning is like the latest fasion so we think we have to do it too. But then why when no one yawns we yawn it is because there may be a momentary lapse in the amount of oxygen in the brain and the brain thinks you are suffacating so it tells you to take in the maximum amount of oxygen possible so why does it hurt it is because the lungs are expandind so large that they press against the inside od the ribs and because they are growing to such an emense size it compresses all the organs below it thus causing some discomfort and I thank you

Answer 3

I think it's because when you see somebody yawning it makes you think about it without you knowing it so you do it to. Tell your friend to do it in the same room as you when your not looking and you won't yawn.

Answer 4

We humans STILL have the reflex to mimic, just like the apes!
But DON'T let the creation nutters know!

Answer 5

in www.statisticool.com/mythbuster.htm is ones lifetime to eat diet in bread factory or studying of how to work, ,any busterd