Why do we yawn when someone near us yawns?
The researchers also found that the propensity for "catching" a yawn was linked to the levels of brain activity in a person's motor cortex — the more activity in the area, the more inclined the person would be to yawn.
The reason that it’s hard to stifle a yawn — especially when someone nearby is doing it and you’re trying hard not to — appears to reside in the area of the brain that’s responsible for motor function, a new study from England finds.
According to an article on LiveScience website, scientists refer to the urge to yawn when you see someone else doing it as contagious yawning.
This is a type of “echophenomenon.”
In other words, it’s an automatic imitation of another person, according to the study, published on August 31 in the journal Current Biology.
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Other types of echophenomena include “echolalia” (imitation of someone’s words) and “echopraxia” (imitation of someone’s actions).
Contagious yawning isn’t unique to humans, either. Other animals, including dogs and chimpanzees, are also susceptible to the phenomenon, the scientists said.
But the reason why yawns spread from person to person, or animal to animal, is unknown.
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