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What determines whether a yawn spreads? The emotional closeness between the yawner and people nearby, a study shows. Watching people on trains, at meals and in other public spaces, Italian researchers noted whether those sharing yawns were family members, friends, acquaintances or strangers. They recorded information about gender, country of origin, social context and physical orientation of yawners. A yawn counted as contagious if it occurred within three minutes of an initial yawn.Family members caught each other's yawns more often, and more quickly, than friends did. Yawn contagion was weaker among acquaintances. Similar mental networks get activated when a friend is sad as when a friend yawns, the researchers noted.
"Yawn Contagion and Empathy in Homo sapiens," Ivan Norscia and Elisabetta Palagi, PLoS ONE (Dec. 7)
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