Have you heard of ecophenomes? They involve the automatic repetition of the words or actions of others. An example of an ecophenomen would be when we see someone yawning and then imitating them. But why is yawning contagious?
Psychologist Robert Provine (1986) left us this phrase: “The yawn can have the dubious honor of being, among the most common human behaviors, the least understood. “Years later, can we solve this problem through neuroscience?Is there an explanation or more than one? Let’s find out.
- According to a study by Romero et al.
- (2014).
- Although many animals yawn.
- Only humans.
- Chimpanzees.
- Dogs and wolves become infected with yawning.
- But why is yawning contagious?Let’s explain what some of the most relevant explanations say:.
A group of scientists from the University of Nottingham, England, conducted research in 2017, published in Current Biology, in which they tried to find an answer to the question of why yawning is contagious.
According to English researchers, this action consists of a brain reflex, which would be activated only in the area responsible for controlling motor function, so, according to the study, the propensity to capture other people’s yawns comes from the primary motor cortex of the brain. . This area is responsible for the execution of neural impulse movement.
The survey taught a total of 36 adult volunteers to contain the contagion while watching video clips of people yawning, then all the yawns emitted (including those removed) were counted.
Using transcranial magnetic stimulation (EMT) techniques, researchers analyzed the possible relationship between the neural base of yawning and motor excitability.
Thus, the group found that being more or less prone to contagious yawns depends on the cortical excitability and physiological inhibition of each person’s primary motor cortex, which would explain why there are people yawning more and less, and why there are people who yawn more. infected with yawns than others.
Are we always going to yawn when we see someone yawning, or could we control this reflex instead?According to the English researchers themselves, the ability to withstand this contagion is limited, and they add that trying to eliminate yawning can increase desire. Yawning.
In fact, through electrical stimulation during the experiment, they were able to see how, by increasing motor excitability, the tendency to become infected when yawning increased. So the answer is no; we cannot control this contagion because we have an innate predisposition to it.
The above study may lead researchers to more accurately determine the causes of certain disorders that have increased cortical excitability or a decrease in physiological inhibition.
In these types of disorders – dementia, autism, epilepsy or Tourette syndrome – patients cannot avoid the presentation of certain ecopenmenes (such as the contagion of yawns), ecolalia (repetition of words or phrases by the interlocutor) or eco-praxia (automatic repetition of the interlocutor’s actions).
In this regard, the study’s director, Georgina Jackson, professor of cognitive neuropsychology at the Nottingham Institute of Mental Health, explains:
“We believe that these findings may be particularly important to better understand the association between motor excitability and the emergence of ecopenmenos in a wide range of clinical pathologies associated with increased cortical excitability and/or a decrease in physiological inhibition” -Georgina Jackson, study director –
In addition, Jackson adds that it can help patients with Tourette’s syndrome by reducing motor excitability to reduce tics.
Prior to this study, other scientists tried to answer this question; many of them spoke of the contagion of empathy as a possible explanation as well, when we see a person yawn, we unconsciously sympathize with him and make the same gesture without being able to dodge him, as if we were his reflection in the mirror.
Does this theory have many followers, does this suggest that the ability to interpret what others feel would lead us to put ourselves in their place or to feel the same way?Primary? So much this. This, in turn, would lead us to the temptation to yawn.
Some studies – which try to explain why yawning is contagious – refer to the activation of certain brain circuits typical of empathy, including the famous mirror neurons, which would act as an internal reflection of the movements we observe in other people.
Another possible explanation for this phenomenon is communication and synchronization, in this regard the psychologist researcher and professor Matthew Campbell states:
“One possibility is that, in social species that coordinate their activity levels, copying yawns can help synchronize the group. -Matthew Campbell-
In other words, the explanation would have its origins in an imitative action; thus, the copy of the yawn would synchronize the group. According to Campbell, at lunchtime, everyone eats (eating would also be contagious), and the same would happen with other functions, such as movements or postures.