Individual Variation in Contagious Yawning Susceptibility Is Highly Stable and Largely Unexplained by Empathy or Other Known Factors

Abstract

The contagious aspect of yawning is a well-known phenomenon that exhibits variation in the human population. Despite the observed variation, few studies have addressed its intra-individual reliability or the factors modulating differences in the susceptibility of healthy volunteers. Due to its obvious biological basis and impairment in diseases like autism and schizophrenia, a better understanding of this trait could lead to novel insights into these conditions and the general biological functioning of humans. We administered 328 participants a 3-minute yawning video stimulus, a cognitive battery, and a comprehensive questionnaire that included measures of empathy, emotional contagion, circadian energy rhythms, and sleepiness. Individual contagious yawning measurements were found to be highly stable across testing sessions, both in a lab setting and if administered remotely online, confirming that certain healthy individuals are less susceptible to contagious yawns than are others. Additionally, most individuals who failed to contagiously yawn in our study were not simply suppressing their reaction, as they reported not even feeling like yawning in response to the stimulus. In contrast to previous studies indicating that empathy, time of day, or intelligence may influence contagious yawning susceptibility, we found no influence of these variables once accounting for the age of the participant. Participants were less likely to show contagious yawning as their age increased, even when restricting to ages of less than 40 years. However, age was only able to explain 8% of the variability in the contagious yawn response. The vast majority of the variability in this extremely stable trait remained unexplained, suggesting that studies of its inheritance are warranted.

Experimental evidence of contagious yawning in budgerigars (Melopsittacus undulatus)

“…Consistent with this view, previous research has documented a strong association between contagious yawning and empathy (for a discussion, see Campbell and de Waal 2014). For example, in humans, contagious yawning is more common among participants who score high on empathy measures (Platek et al 2003; but see Bartholomew and Cirulli 2014), and thinking about yawning has been shown to activate brain areas implicated in empathic processing (e.g., Platek et al 2005;Nahab et al 2009). Comparative studies investigating the developmental onset and decline of contagious yawning also generally support this view (Anderson and Meno 2003;Bartholomew and Cirulli 2014;Giganti et al 2012;Massen et al 2014), since empathy-related capacities in humans emerge in early childhood and decline in old age (Bailey and Henry 2008;Perner and Lang 1999).…”

“…For example, in humans, contagious yawning is more common among participants who score high on empathy measures (Platek et al 2003; but see Bartholomew and Cirulli 2014), and thinking about yawning has been shown to activate brain areas implicated in empathic processing (e.g., Platek et al 2005;Nahab et al 2009). Comparative studies investigating the developmental onset and decline of contagious yawning also generally support this view (Anderson and Meno 2003;Bartholomew and Cirulli 2014;Giganti et al 2012;Massen et al 2014), since empathy-related capacities in humans emerge in early childhood and decline in old age (Bailey and Henry 2008;Perner and Lang 1999). Growing comparative research also demonstrates a positive relationship between contagious yawning and group affiliation or social closeness/bonding (Campbell and de Waal 2011;Demuru and Palagi 2012;Norscia and Palagi 2011;Palagi et al 2009;Romero et al 2013Romero et al , 2014Silva et al 2012), which supports a connection with empathic processing.…”

Presence of contagious yawning in sheep

“…Generally, rumination is mostly observed when the animals are relaxed (Provine ; Gautrais et al . ; Bartholomew & Cirulli ). Restraint is well‐known as a stressors and is reported to induce plasma cortisol levels in sheep (Matthews & Parrott ).…”

“…While spontaneous yawning is common among vertebrate species (Heusner ; Baenninger ), it is unknown whether more species could yawn contagiously or not. Contagious yawning is reported to be a response to an innate releasing mechanism (Provine ; Bartholomew & Cirulli ) and it is considered to be based on the organism's capacity for empathy or emotional contagion (Madsen et al . ; Amici et al .…”

Contagious yawning and psychopathy

“…Age is known to affect the likelihood of contagious yawning; as age increases, contagious yawning decreases (Bartholomew and Cirulli, 2014). Further, children on the autism spectrum are less likely to demonstrate contagious yawning (Giganti and Esposito Ziello, 2009;Senju et al, 2007), which is speculated to have a strong relationship to the empathetic deficits seen in this population.…”