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July 21, 2004
Contagious yawning
Apparently chimps are subject to contagious yawning just like humans.
The team played videos of chimps either yawning or exhibiting other open-mouth behaviours such as grinning to six adult chimps and three infants at the Primate Research Institute of Kyoto University in Japan.
...They argue that their figure of 33 per cent of adults showing contagious yawning compares well with humans since the chimps do not understand the purpose of the trial.
..."Our data suggest that contagious yawning is a by-product of the ability to conceive of yourself and to use your experience to make inferences about comparable experiences and mental states in others," Gallup told New Scientist.
Posted by Chris at July 21, 2004 01:18 PMComments
I've been curious about how the relationship with the yawner mediates the effectiveness of inducing a yawn in another. My girlfriend Sabrina has a considerably more effective ability to pass yawns to me (and I seem to have a similar effect on her) than other friends of mine, and these more than does a stranger near me.
Perhaps this perception is related to the amount of overall time spent with a yawner and there really is no mediation. Or maybe we're just both suggestible and yawn a lot, too.
Posted by: Steevo at July 24, 2004 12:15 PM
I'll be impressed when chimps read this story and start to yawn, as I did. Contagious yawning always been a fascinating phenomenon for me, but I'd say the fact that it can be triggered by reading or thinking about it means that it's a little deeper (psychologically) than just a social cue.
Posted by: Jaime at July 22, 2004 02:08 PM