The photo shows a macaque monkey yawning. Look at him one more time. He was tired and he fell asleep so much that, while his eyelids were closing on their own from the weight, he put his fist on his mouth with light movements and took a deep breath, releasing the air loudly, with pleasure.
And what are you doing now? Maybe you didn't yawn? :)
Believe it or not, scientists don't know why yawning is contagious. They were able to find the Higgs boson, they understood what happens when traveling at the speed of light, they even managed to cut out a certain gene from DNA and calculate how a space probe would land on a comet. But, they do not have an answer to a completely harmless question: how is it possible that a person is completely sleepy and rested, but that the moment he sees another yawning, he suddenly runs out of energy, relaxes, takes a deep breath and spreads his mouth wide? Yawning is a reflex. People yawn when they are tired, sleepy, bored, or when they see or hear another yawn. But just thinking about yawning often causes yawning. The author of this text, for example, yawned at least 15 times while writing it xaaxaxxax
It also seems that the contagiousness of yawning is a perfect question for researchers - not only is it interesting and fun, but researching scientists doesn't have to launch anyone into space, they don't have to dissect animals or people, and they don't need a medium-sized underground tunnelof the city.
During yawning, one muscle in the middle ear called the tensor tympani contracts. Because of that event, it seems to us that the noise from yawning that we hear is created inside our head, but it has nothing to do with the movement of air but with the mechanical movement of the hearing aid itself.
Despite all these interesting findings, it turns out that the causes of contagious yawning are not easy to find. There are many theories in the field of physiology and psychology - about 20 of them - that try to explain this phenomenon, although so far none has been proven.
Mention is made, for example, of the so-called chameleon effect or "unconscious mimicry" - an unintentional imitation. Other researchers describe yawning as a reflex that occurs after a trigger (stimulus) - yawning of another person.One of the more dominant explanations is that the cause of infectious yawning (although only in primates) is empathy. According to that theory, we participate in the feelings of other, close people, we have the need to feel out of compassion what they feel, so we often imitate the person who is close to us with our movements and activities.
The theory of empathy as a cause of infectious yawning may be confirmed by studies conducted among children with autism. As autism spectrum disorders (ASD) affect children's social and communicative development, as well as their ability to empathize, scientists thought that research among children with autism could provide some answers. Indeed, it turns out that these children are not prone to contagious yawning, which is why it is possible that the theory of empathy has somewhat more foundation than others.
What perhaps further supports the theory of empathy as the cause of contagious yawning is that people yawn more often if they see a person close to them yawn, compared to a stranger yawning. Even dogs yawn more often if they see it (or just hear it) from the owner, compared to an unknown person.Yawning is not only contagious in dogs but also in other animals - birds, reptiles, cats, chimpanzees, and not necessarily within one species - but the causes seem to be very diverse. Baboons yawn in the presence of the enemy - perhaps to show off their huge fangs. The Siamese fighter fish, popular in aquaristics, yawns only in the company of other fighters, and often before an attack. For Adelie penguins, yawning is part of the greeting ritual.Human yawning is contagious to dogs, and this question particularly intrigues scientists.
They first assumed that these were evolutionary reasons and had something to do with the domestication of a dog that has always lived with humans. However, this theory fell when it turned out that wolves were also susceptible to contagious yawning - the stronger the social connection between individuals, the more frequent contagious yawning became in wolves.
In one film, it is explained that if you are in a room with someone who is yawning, and you not respond to it by yawning, it means that you do not have empathy for other people. It was a killer, a cold-blooded killer, with no compassion for other people. That with yawning was like some kind of test. So now pay attention 😀