<\/a>People are less likely to yawn when others do as they get older, a study has found.<\/p>\nContagious yawning is linked more closely to a person’s age than their ability to empathise, as previously thought, US-based scientists said.<\/p>\n
It also showed a stronger link to age than tiredness or energy levels.<\/p>\n
Researchers are now looking at whether the ability to catch yawns from other people is inherited, with the hope of helping treat mental health disorders.<\/p>\n
Autism and schizophrenia sufferers are reportedly less able to catch yawns, researchers said, so understanding the genes that might code for contagious yawning could illuminate new pathways for treatment.<\/p>\n
In the study, published in the journal Plos One, 328 participants were shown a three-minute video showing other people yawning.<\/p>\n
Each subject had to click a button every time they yawned.<\/p>\n
Levels of tiredness<\/p>\n
Overall, 68% of the participants yawned. Of those, 82% of people aged under 25 yawned, compared with 60% of people aged between 25 and 49, and 41% of people aged over 50.<\/p>\n
Dr Elizabeth Cirulli, assistant professor of medicine at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, led the study.<\/p>\n
She said: “This is the first study to look at a whole bunch of factors. It is the largest study, in terms of the number of people involved, to date.”<\/p>\n
Dr Cirulli said she did not know why contagious yawning decreased with age.<\/p>\n
She added that although age was the most important predictor of contagious yawning, only 8% of the variation in whether or not a participant yawned was explained by their age.<\/p>\n
“The vast majority of variation in the contagious yawning response was just not explained,” said Dr Cirulli.<\/p>\n
The study used questionnaires to test the participants’ empathy, levels of tiredness and sleep patterns.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, intelligence was assessed using cognitive tests.<\/p>\n
Neurological ‘nitty-gritty’<\/p>\n
Robert R Provine, professor of psychology at the University of Maryland in Baltimore County, said the study was “unique” as it marked the first time a link between ageing and contagious yawning had been shown.<\/p>\n
He said the study would “help to get down to the neurological nitty-gritty of contagious behaviours” and mental health disorders such as autism and schizophrenia.<\/p>\n
Prof Provine said the findings could also help to understand why laughing and coughing were so contagious.<\/p>\n
He added: “Contagious acts such as yawning and laughing remind us that we are often mindless beasts of the herd, not rational beings in full conscious control of our behaviour.”<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Source: BBC<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
People are less likely to yawn when others do as they get older, a study has found. Contagious yawning is linked more closely to a person’s age than their ability to empathise, as previously thought, US-based scientists said. It also showed a stronger link to age than tiredness or energy levels. Researchers are now looking […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":6474,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[],"tags":[7],"yoast_head":"\n
Catching a yawn is linked to age - Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always<\/title>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n