Yawnology: The Study of the Contagious Yawn

Overview

Objectives/Goals The objective of this project was to determine if yawning was contagious in the sense that the yawn passes form one individual to another. The scientist originally believed that yawning would be contagious in this scenario. Methods/Materials 10 different test subjects were brought individually into a quiet room with the scientist. Each subject was asked 30 common knowledge questions over the course of 5 minutes (the accuracy of the answers did not matter). The scientist yawned at questions 5, 15, and 25 to see if they would receive a "contagious yawn". (The subjects were not aware that the experiment they were participating in involved yawning, so they were under the impression that they just needed to answer a series of questions). Results The scientist's hypothesis was disproved, concluding that yawning was not contagious in the certain scenario tested. This result was drawn from the data that none of the subjects returned a yawn. Conclusions/Discussion The scientist concluded that yes, yawning is contagious because humans have empathy in the brain that causes one to observe an emotion and want to mimic said emotion, but yawning was not contagious in this certain environment. The scientist believed that this result was brought about because, the scientist believes, that the subjects were more anxious while being asked the questions than they would have been in a more casual environment. This will be tested in further experimentation. This experiment is beneficiary because it can help the scientific community by providing information about such a not-so-well-known subject like yawning. Yet a more practical application for this information is to better inform people about their body, how it works, and how to stay healthy.

Competition history

• CSEF 2010 Behavioral & Social Sciences · Entry J0309

Resources

• CSEF project summary ↗

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