why is yawning contagious???

Answer 1

Researchers recently found that yawning isn’t only catching among people; it is also among chimpanzees.
Compounding the mystery is the odd way in which the contagious power of yawning is largely unconscious.

http://www.world-science.net/exclusives/050309_yawnfrm.htm

The theory could explain a puzzling question about subconscious human behaviour - why many of us yawn when we see or hear another person doing it, or even read about it or even just think about it?

The brain cooling theory says that when we contagiously yawn we are participating in an ancient, hardwired ritual that evolved to help groups stay alert and detect danger.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/6270036.stm

In particular, contagious yawners score lower on the Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire, which was designed to measure the symptoms of Schizotypal Personality Disorder. These symptoms involve less social and self-awareness, along with schizophrenia-like symptoms such as altered or unusual perceptions, particularly in social contexts, which can lead to paranoia. Lower scores on the test indicate lower levels of schizotypal symptoms. Contagious yawners also performed better when answering questions about stories designed to test for theory-of-mind ability. Finally, they also had much faster reaction times when asked to identify their own face presented on a computer screen.

http://mixingmemory.blogspot.com/2005/06/why-is-yawning-contagious.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9B-1yh_tfgU

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. 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.

To look at the issue in terms of evolutionary
advantage, if there is one at all, yawning might
be a herd instinct. Other theories suggest that
the yawn serves to synchronize mood behavior among
gregarious animals, similar to the howling of the
wolf pack. 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. A
specific study was conducted on chimpanzees. A
group of chimpanzees was shown a video of other
chimpanzees yawning, and the study chimpanzees
yawned also. This helps to partly confirm a yawn's
"contagiousness".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yawn

Answer 2

Power of suggestion, I suppose. I am terribly vulnerable to contagious yawning -- all a person has to do is say the word and I will yawn. It's uncontrollable.

(Just thinking about it while writing this made me yawn.)

Answer 3

I think so everytime I see someone yawn in front of me I start to yawn right afterwards It never fails, and you always say to that person (even if you don't know them) "Don't do that it's CONTAGIOUS!!!!!!!!

Answer 4

wasn't that on myth busters and it got busted BUT they were wrong it happened many times when a friend in class yawned and like 2 other ppl including me yawned 2(i guess it reminds Ur brain or influences it 2 do the same)

Answer 5

The reason we yawn is because our breathing slows causing a lack of oxygen and so we yawn to take in a deep breath, that's why we yawn when we are tired-our breathing slows down. And when we see someone else yawn our breathing slows down slightly again so we yawn :)

Answer 6

i think that ur brain subconciously notices when someone else yawns and forces you to want to yawn. Also, when you open your mouth wide and breath in deeply, you yawn, and when you think about yawning, you often feel like you have to yawn...
Wierd, huh?

Answer 7

Yawning takes in oxygen, and oxygen is necessary to live. When you yawn, you take in more air more quickly than just breathing. Therefore, if you're in an oxygen-weak environment and you see someone try to take your oxygen by yawning, you try to survive just as well as them by infectiously yawning, too.

Answer 8

I have no idea, but I think it's completely true that it's contagious.

Not as contagious, but pretty close: coughing.

Answer 9

No one knows for sure! Cool, huh? They do know it's learned behavior... babies don't "catch" a yawn.

Answer 10

Mirror neurons.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mirror_neurons
http://www.sonc.com/pix/yawn2.jpg