WHY IS YAWNING IS CONTAGIOUS CLAUDIA AGUIRRE

Oh excuse me, have you ever yawned because somebody else yawned, you arent especially tired and yes suddenly your mouths opened wide and then big yawn (*yawning) comes out. This phenomenal is known as contagious yawning and most scientist still dont understand why does is still happens .there are many hypothesis currently being researched , lets take a look at the few of most prevalent one , beginning with two physiological hypothesis for moving to psychological hypothesis .our first physiological hypothesis states that contagious yawning is triggered by a specific stimulus and initial yawn , this is called fixed action patterns , think of fixed action patterns like a reflex , your yawn makes me yawn similar to a domino effect , one persons yawn triggers in a person nearby that is observed the act . Once this reflex is triggered it must runs its course, have you ever tried to stop the yawn before once it had begun? Basically impossible! Another physiological hypothesis is known as non-conscious mimicry or the chameleon effect. this occurs when you imitate someones behavior without knowing it a subtle an d unintentional copycat maneuver .people tends to mimic each other posture if you sit across from someone that has the leg crossed you might cross your own legs .this hypothesis suggest that we yawn when we see someone else yawn because we are unconsciously copying his or her behavior .scientist belief that this chameleon effect is possible because of a special set of neuron known as mirror neuron , mirror neuron a type of brain cell that response equally when we perform an action as we see someone else perform the same action. These neurons are important for learning and self-awareness, for example watching someone do something physical like knitting or putting on lipstick can help you do the same action more accurately, Neuroimaging studies using FmRI functional magnetic resolution imaging shows that when we see someone yawn or even hear they yawn a specific area of the brain housing this mirror neurons tends to light up which in turn causes us to respond with the same action .A yawn! Are psychological hypothesis also involves the work of this mirror neurons? We will call it the empathy yawn ,empathy is the ability to understand what someone else is feeling and partake in their emotion , a crucial ability for social animals like us .recently neuroscientist have found that subset of mirror neuron s allows us to empathize of what others feeling at a deeper level , scientist discovered that this emphatic response yawning while testing the first hypothesis we mentioned figured out action patterns , the studies was setup to show that dogs will enact the yawn on reflex of the mere sound of a human yawn , while the studies shows that its true, they found something else interesting , dogs yawns more frequently at familiar yawns such as from their owners than an unfamiliar yawn from the strangers .Following this research , other studies on human primates are also shown that contagious yawning occurs more frequently among friends than strangers ,in fact, contagious yawning starts occur when we are about four or 5 years old at the point when children develop their ability to identify the others preparedly, still, while neuroscientific studies aim to prove that contagious yawning is based on the capacity of empathy, more researches are needed to shed light on what exactly is going on .It is possible that the answer lies in another hypothesis all together. The next time you get caught in a yawn; take a second to think about what have just happened, were you thinking about yawn? Did someone near you yawn? Was that personal stranger or someone close? And are you yawning right know??