Researchers Found Another Reason Why Yawns Are Contagious


https://www.reddit.com/r/gifs/comments/3xvgav/pelican_yawn/
Yawning is baffling. Although there are theories, we don’t understand why we do it and most people wonder why the heck they are so contagious. One thing we have already learned about yawning is that the contagiousness of the act is linked with our ability to emphasize. 
For example, as Dr. Jennifer Goldbeck revealed in her article "Why Psychopaths Are Immune to Contagious Yawning"  with Psychology Today, research has found that Psychopaths are immune to yawning because they lack empathy. 

Empathy is the ability to see things from another persons point of view or to be able to share and experience another persons feelings.

"Researchers at Baylor University had 135 subjects take the Psychopathic Personality Inventory-Revised (PPI-R) and then exposed them to a contagious yawn experiment." Goldbeck said. "The Coldheartedness part of the psychopathy scale was strongly tied to whether the person yawned. The more coldhearted a person was (i.e., the less empathetic), the less likely they were to catch a yawn."

Empathy is essential for caring about people, having a conscience, and is apparently one of the core psychological factors that leads to contagious yawning. But since the study in 2015 even more has come to light on other parts of the brain that effect the contagiousness of yawning. 

If anyone has wondered why holding back a yawn is nearly impossible, researchers at the University of Nottingham, according to Health Day News, have found the answer.

It turns out that the brain's primary motor cortex also plays a role in contagious yawning, something researchers realized they could use to better understand clinical conditions such as Tourette syndrome and epilepsy which are also effected by the primary motor cortex.  

The primary motor cortex  is one of the principal brain areas involved in motor function as it generates the neural impulses that control the execution of movement.

 At the University of Nottingham researchers “examined 36 adults as they looked at video clips of people yawning. The participants were told to either try to stop themselves from yawning or just let it happen. The researchers found that it's hard to resist yawning when you see someone yawn, and the urge to yawn gets stronger when you're told not to do it,” said Health Day News in their article "New Clues to Why Yawns Are Contagious."

When the researchers tried to manipulate contagious yawning through electrical stimulation they found the brain's primary motor cortex played a role in contagious yawning. Something researchers realized would be important in further understanding motor excitability in clinical conditions “such as epilepsy, dementia, autism and Tourette syndrome," said study leader Stephen Jackson the professor of cognitive neuroscience at Nottingham in interview with Health Day News.

"This research has shown that the 'urge' (to yawn) is increased by trying to stop yourself. Using electrical stimulation, we were able to increase excitability and in doing so increase the propensity for contagious yawning," said Georgina Jackson, a professor of cognitive neuropsychology.

Tourette’s syndrome causes tics which are involuntary, repetitive movements and vocalizations. Similarly to contagious yawning, when people with Tourette’s try and hold back a tick, the urge is increased.

Also like with yawning, in her article "6 Things That Make Me Tick" blogger Brittany Fichter, who has Tourette's, reveals that watching others tic makes her ticks even worse. For her tics can be contagious just like yawning. 

" I feel like a jerk sometimes, but I can’t watch those Youtube videos people post where they explain Tourettes to the world. I mean, kudos to them for being so brave and trying to break stereotypes! I can’t watch them, however, because they make me want to start ticcing, and the last thing I need is to “catch” new tics.”

With this new information, researchers hope to learn how to reduce excitability in the motor complex and then reduce tics in Tourette’s.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Why Women Are Less Likely to Recieve CPR

Image
The OC Register said women are less likely than men to get CPR from a bystander and more likely to die. The study, which was funded by the Heart Association and the National Institutes of Health. Found that only 39 percent of women suffering cardiac arrest in a public place were given CPR versus 45 percent of men. Researchers theorize the reason stemmed from rescuers being reluctant to touch a woman's chest, remove her clothes, or fear of hurting a woman when pushing hard on her chest. What the study didn't seem to record was the sex of the rescuers. Would a woman really fear removing another woman's clothes or worry she might be pushing too hard on a woman's chest? If this is not the case, it could mean that less women know CPR than men. There aren't any statistics on how many women versus men know CPR, but if we assume less women are performing CPR Science Daily may have found a good reason. A study reported by Science Daily found that Men show strong
Read more

Cat Hats Fruit Style: Japanese Gacha Machines

Image
Gachapon game machines are all over Japans city shopping districts. Americans may better recognize and relate these to gumball machines. With gumball machines users put in a quarter, crank it, and then a gum ball clunks to the bottom and bam they've got chewy flavor that keeps giving for about two minutes. T he Japanese Gachapon game machines are far more sophisticated than gumball machines. Instead of gum users get little toy prizes, and not the cheep kind either. Well-made figurines, key chains, and tinkery toys amongst many other prizes are offered. Like with gumball machines there are several prize options and it is always a surprise as to which one you'll end up with. Prices can range between 100 yen and 500 yen, which is the basic equivalent of $1 to $5 said an article in All About Japan .  Youtubers and husband and wife, Rachel and June from the channel Rachel and Jun and their other channel Rachel & Jun's Adventures! decided to take a gander at
Read more

Discovery Of The Lymphatic System In The Brain May Help Us Better Understand Brain Health.

Image
Surprise surprise, your brain has a lymphatic system! If you're not surprised because you have never even heard of the lymphatic system here is why the science world is shocked and why this new understanding of the brain could really help some people. Until very recently scientists thought the brain was completely void of the lymphatic system, even though the rest of the human body completely relies on it. Knowing about how the lymphatic system in the brain works may help you keep inflammation down, brain health up, and in the future help scientists cure neuroinflammatory diseases.  The lymphatic system is one of two major circulatory systems in the body. It transports lymph, a fluid containing infection-fighting white blood cells throughout the boy and helps rid the body of toxins and waist. As the educational, The Truth About Cancer website said, "A poorly functioning lymphatic system is a risk factor for the development of cancer and other chronic diseases."
Read more