Years ago, when I was in graduate school, I wrote a paper called "It started with a yawn." I noticed when people got together and one person yawned, others yawned within seconds afterwards.
Some researchers have claimed that yawning could control brain temperature so that it does not reach extremes.
A team of researchers led by Andrew Gallup from at Princeton University analyzed the pattern of yawning in people in winters and summers, and managed to claim that a significant number of participants yawned in winters as compared to that in summers.
The facts being underlined by the team made the researchers think that yawning must be serving the purpose of regulating the brain temperature within the permissible limits.
Published in journal Frontiers in Evolutionary Neuroscience, the study is said to have involved 160 people from Tucson and another 80 people in Arizona in both the seasons.
I observe and I am curious…..
Since I was young, I have been watching, noticing and wondering why people yawn. I have notice that people yawn together. When someone yawns, others around them often yawn. It is as thought they are mimicking each other.
I've also noticed that people yawn when someone they are talking with 'talks for a long time' about a complex subject that they are not fully following.’ Metaphorically it’s like communicating “enough, I can’t hold that much information in my brain.” Or, ‘I can’t understand what you are saying – I can’t grasp it all.’
I am curious about the connection between "yawning to regulate temperature" and ‘ why people yawning together – either as a mimicking response of a possible overload response.’
In the case of Overload…. Angelika Dimoka, a neuroscientist from Temple University Fox School of Business, has been studying overload and decision-making.
In her study, researchers gave people bidding on more information to work with to make decisions. As the researchers gave the bidders more and more information, activity in the dorsolateral PFC suddenly fell off, as if a circuit breaker had popped. “The bidders reach cognitive and information overload,” says Dimoka. They start making stupid mistakes and bad choices because the brain region responsible for smart decision-making has essentially left the premises. For the same reason, their frustration and anxiety soar: the brain’s emotion regions—previously held in check by the dorsolateral PFC—run as wild as toddlers on a sugar high. The two effects build on one another. “With too much information, ” says Dimoka, “people’s decisions make less and less sense.” (Newsweek, February 27, 2010, by Sharon Beagley)
If we use this new information about cognitive overload, we can see that our whole brain state shifts when we are called upon to deal with and comprehend complex subjects. Overload causes us to shut down the parts of the brain needed to think.
Yawning may help restore a state of equilibrium. Breathing may slow our heart rate and enable us to get into a higher state of coherence. When we yawn, it’s possible we are calling upon our ability to restore a state of clarity, openness and receptivity. (http://topnews.us/content/243535-yawning-regulates-brain-temperature)
In the case of Mimicking…. Is yawning contagious?
"A yawn is quite catching, you see. Like a cough. It just takes one yawn to start other yawns off."
– Dr. Suess
While yawning is often associated with being tired and needing more oxygen in the bloodstream, people yawn for many reasons including stress, boredom, emotion and over-work.
Yawning together with others suggests another fascinating principle about human behavior. Yawning may be contagious. Is it possible that what triggers people to yawn together is a herding response - a subtle way to communicate group behavior, such as when a bird follow the behavior of one bird, and all rise together as a whole flock.
If one person yawns, this appears to cause another person to yawn. Researchers have found that 40-60% of people who see a picture of someone yawning will yawn themselves. Even reading the word YAWN can make people yawn.
Maybe a yawn is a signal to the group that it’s time to go to sleep. Or if someone yawns when they’re bored, it may be a sign to change the topic of conversation.
Yawning is not limited to humans. Animals of all types yawn. If you have a dog or cat, you’ve probably seen your pet yawn several times. Even some birds yawn such as cockatiel parrots, Adelie penguins and Emperor penguins. (http://www.chevroncars.com/learn/wondrous-world/yawn-contagious)
What we do know is that yawning helps replenish the levels of oxygen in the blood, may help regulate our body temperature, and that the same chemicals in our brain that affect our moods and emotions cause us to yawn.
Ancient Greeks started the ritual of covering your mouth when you yawn so that your soul does not escape!
Notice when people yawn… what is going on in the conversation? What might trigger the need for more oxygen? Why might a deep breath be needed? Why is this conversation having such an impact at the deep visceral level?
Maybe there are times we need to breathe new life into a situation, a conversation or relationship…. Think about it… notice it… reflect on it… and talk about it with others… it’s a phenomenon of nature.
http://www.chevroncars.com/learn/wondrous-world/yawn-contagious
