Yawn

It was a super boring time in policlinic while we were waiting for the doctors. They were busy then the patients have to wait for them. We were not going to check up, but as a clerkship or clinic student, we followed the specialist doctor until the end of the world *ok, this is too much*

It’s 11 am and we had waited for about 2 hours. We were waiting in the corner room, some playing our mobile phone and others reading a book. Guess, what did I do ? I was playing google quick draw on my mobile phone. It’s totally fun guys :3 hahaha..

While we were busy with our useless activity *it’s just me, LOL* one of my friend’s yawning. In a blink of an eye, one by one of us started yawning too; like a domino effect. Have you experienced this moment ? I think many people can relate to this condition. But how come ? Hmmm.. my friend said that if you started to yawn after your friends, it means you are an empathic person. Is that true ?  

Here we go my short research :

Yawning can be observed in most vertebrate species from fetal stages to old age. In mammals, it consists of an involuntary sequence of mouth opening, deep inspiration, brief apnea, and slow expiration (Walunski and Deputte, 2004).

In mammals, it has been observed that more than 90% of yawns occur at rest whereas the remaining yawns seem to be triggered by social or emotional stimuli. These contextual differences have motivated a classification of yawning into “physiological” and “social” yawns, although the phenomenology of yawns does not depend on the context (Deputte, 1994; Walusinski and Deputte, 2004).

*wow, it also can be triggered by social or emotional; not only when we felt sleepy. Wait, is yawning occurs only because we felt sleepy ?

Based on Bruke, 2013 from University of Sidney, Australia, there is no agreement as to the immediate stimulus triggering a yawn. This is partly because a yawn is commonly associated with a variety of conditions such as tiredness, boredom, sleepiness, loss of attention, fatigue, hunger, malaise and, most surprisingly, observing other people yawning (contagious yawning). They are contagious through non-verbal communication (Darwin, 2004).

*yay ! we found that yawning is contagious and boredom can trigger a yawn. Couldn’t agree more because we were super bored at that time. OK, next :D

Studies said that replication of yawn is triggered involuntarily. Neither does the yawner want to make others yawn, neither is the spectator-receiver of the replication aware of a need to yawn (Moore 1942, Baenninger 1987). How is this replication triggered ? It can be triggered by sight, hearing, or smell (Darwin, 2004). Sight is the most powerful stimulant. R. Provine shows that 55% of spectators viewing a video showing 30 successive yawns will yawn within five minutes. The latency period varies from a few seconds to five. The existence of a susceptibility to contagion among blind subjects confirms that sight is not the only trigger. Viewing part of the face only, such as a wide open mouth, does not trigger replication. Therefore a multimodal perception of the whole facial configuration and of audible respiratory moments is needed, along with coordinated dynamics for replication to happen (Provine 1986, 1989).

As far as I know, a yawn is triggered involuntary and the powerful stimulant is by sight. If you saw other’s yawning, then the brain will get the stimuli and you start yawning. In another study, it says, following such perception, the motor trigger of the yawning reflex is also involuntary and stems from the setting into the action of sub-cortical motor loops (gray nucleus – brain stem) (Darwin, 2004).

*it’s a nice info, isn’t ? Hmm. Back to the first question. Is it related to empathy ?

The answer is yes.

As the explanation before, that yawn can be stimulated then resulting reaction with cognitive participation of an emotional nature. It includes a complex of a human behavior, empathy. So it’s a normal reaction, it’s a human behavior if you started to yawn after the other in your surroundings, although it happened involuntary.

Then here is the longest citation :

As a basis of social cognition, facial expressions reflecting emotions underly complex and flexible cognitive processes. Only human primates demonstrate the capacity to perceive others as agents endowed with intention, along with the ability to identify. This capacity to think about others and their desires is probably at the root of the complexity and sophistication of Homo sapiens’social bevaviour. (Theory of the mind). This is the basis of conscious empathy: to understand the feeling of the other, to feel personally what the other feels. The replication of yawning is akin to decoding an emotion, the other’s state of vigilance, but at an unconscious, automatic level allowing for the synchronisation of the state of vigilance between individuals, which one could qualify as an instinctive, involuntary empathy. This capacity to in tune with unconscious affects rests on implicit communications, developed over the course of evolution, but whose neurobiological mechanisms are just starting to be understood (Adolphs 1996, 2001, Meltzoff 2002).

OK guys, after reading this post, are you starting to yawn ?