Abstract
Yawning, besides being a spontaneous behavior, can also be evoked by observing others yawn. However, contagious yawning does not always occur, depending possibly on several factors, such as one’s propensity to spontaneously yawn and a heightened level of sleepiness. The aim of this study is to investigate in young adults whether contagious yawning frequency varies throughout the day, and if it is related to the daily time course of spontaneous yawning frequency and level of sleepiness. For the study, 22 subjects were instructed to log hourly, throughout wakefulness, the number of spontaneous yawns and sleepiness level. Subjects were required to continue this procedure for 3 consecutive days, after which they underwent five experimental sessions occurring at regular intervals throughout the same day. During each experimental session, subjects observed others yawn (stimulus condition) and smile (control condition). Our findings show that the contagious effect of yawning is always present throughout the daytime. Both contagious and spontaneous yawning peaked in the early morning and in the late evening, according to the sleepiness time course. However, the frequency of spontaneous yawns was remarkably lower than the frequency of contagious yawns around 19:00. This difference suggests that different mechanisms control spontaneous and contagious yawning.
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Acknowledgments
We thank Prof. Piero Salzarulo and Prof. Marie-Germaine Pecheux for their most helpful comments on an earlier version of the manuscript. We thank Maria Esposito Ziello, Ginevra Taddei, and Alice Guidera for their help in data collection. Also, we are very grateful to Prof. Kevin Ban and Dr. Meaghan Cussen for the revision of English usage throughout the manuscript.
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Giganti, F., Zilli, I. The daily time course of contagious and spontaneous yawning among humans. J Ethol 29, 215–219 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10164-010-0242-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10164-010-0242-0