“A yawn is quite catching, you see, like a cough…
…It just takes one yawn to start other yawns off.”
That’s a quote from one of the Dr. Suess books that’s still being allowed (for now). I used to read it to my son at bedtime in hopes it would make him a little more inclined to go to sleep. He was one of those kids who, right from birth, seemed to have trouble making the transition to dreamland.
Watch out even for the word “yawn”:
Platek says that yawning is contagious in about 60 to 70 percent of people—that is, if people see photos or footage of or read about yawning, the majority will spontaneously do the same. He has found that this phenomenon occurs most often in individuals who score high on measures of empathic understanding. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scans, he found that areas of the brain activated during contagious yawning, the posterior cingulate and precuneus, are involved in processing the our own and others’ emotions. “My capacity to put myself in your shoes and understand your situation is a predictor for my susceptibility to contagiously yawn,” he says.
Along with being contagious, yawning is highly suggestible, meaning that for English speakers, the word “yawn” is a representation of the action, a symbol that we’ve learned to create meaning. When we hear, read or think about the word or the action itself, that symbol becomes “activated” in the brain. “If you get enough stimulation to trip the switch, so to speak, you yawn”…
I’m surprised to hear it’s only 60-70% of people. I had assumed it affected close to everyone.
It’s probably a bit early in the day for this:
Neo:
Since you are more of a “dog person” than a “cat person” there is the behavior called contagious yawning in domesticated dogs. Probably varies by breed; some are more attuned/attentive to human faces IIRC.
https://www.akc.org/expert-advice/lifestyle/do-dogs-yawn-because-owners-do/
I don’t know if domestic cats do it.
I just yawned reading this post.
Chris B,
Me too!
And neo, it wasn’t out of boredom. Clearly, yawns can travel over the internet by just reading about them.
Huh! I had a slight half-yawn just when starting to read this. Strange. I’m known more as a sternutator than a yawner. Of course, having been underslept now for a few days….
I don’t have it any more, but once I was reading a summary of a chess match between Karpov and Sadvakasov (I believe) on the English version of some Russian website. This had clearly been auto-translated back in the days when machine translation was still relatively clumsy. Concerning one of the games, I remember there was something about Sadvakasov “yawned a pawn and then the game was to not rescue any more”. Some of those translation mistakes had me in stitches for days. I don’t know what the verb was in Russian that came out as ‘yawned’ – I presume we would have said he hung a pawn, or maybe blundered it. Sometimes when I think about yawning, though, this still comes to mind.
My dogs do it, too, cats no. Cross-species yawn-triggering syndrome.
read on fMRI in Wiki.
It is a slog which concludes “Because of these factors and more, fMRI evidence has been excluded from any form of legal system. The testing is too uncontrolled and unpredictable. Therefore, it has been stated that fMRI has much more testing to do before it can be considered viable in the eyes the legal system.”
Too uncontrolled and unpredictable!
Most who hide behind the label “Neuroscientist” are psychologists, who are dubious in their science at best.
The Chippendale Mupp, in that book, can yawn a proper yawn, I should think. Judging by the trees in the near background, that is one big cat!
I’m one of the minority of people who do not yawn when I see others yawn, or, for that matter, read articles on yawning. Perhaps I’m not too empathetic. I have been told that many times. ?
Neo, if you ever do a thread on photic sneezing, I’ll be there.
Whistling too: I used to whistle experimentally in waiting crowds, such as at train stations. The Colonel Bogey March from Bridge On The River Kwai, e.g., or maybe the chorus to Those Were The Days, or a snappy Beatles number. Seldom failed!
Chris B and GB: distant yawns don’t need the internet – you two were just experiencing quantum entanglement on a massive scale.
Maybe physicsguy can comment on that for us 🙂
Evelyn Waugh once described a rumour as ‘spreading like a yawn.’
Vile Bodies, IIRC.
“on the English version of some Russian website. This had clearly been auto-translated back in the days when machine translation was still relatively clumsy.” – Philip
Back in the day, one of the jokes was about testing an auto-translation of “The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak” into Russian and then back again, resulting in “The vodka is ready but the meat is rotten.”
The Internet, of course, knows all about it.
https://edwardbetts.com/monograph/Machine_translation_of_%22The_spirit_is_willing%2C_but_the_flesh_is_weak.%22_to_Russian_and_back
Turns out my psychology “neuroscientists ” and functional MRI thesis is supported once again:
the Platek referred to in Neo’s piece is “Steven Platek, a psychology professor at Georgia Gwinnett College.”
Not much of a college, either.
A wee little man who probably insists he be called “Doctor”.
I had a nasty Algebra teacher in High School who used to give a big yawn in front of the class and then castigate any student who yawned.
Remember Ashli Babbitt!