Catch A Yawn :: Biology Essays Research Papers

Catch A YawnA trick in every girls handbook If you want to know if someone is underwriteing you out, yawning and check to see who, if anyone, yawns back. While we may be using the familial phenomenon of suspire to our advantage, the age-old question still lingers on - why, in fact, is yawning contagious? Plausible explanations range from historic origins to muscular requirements. However, one answer that encompasses completely other questions about the cause and traits of yawning has yet to be found. First, lets face up the question of why we yawn. An evolutional/psychological theory has claimed that yawning was once utilise as a non-verbal form of communication to synchronize group expression among animals (9). For example, the drawing card of a pack of wolves would yawn to set a accepted mood or taper a change of activity. Humans withal being group-oriented animals may have assimilated to this form of agreement. In the same federal agency that one pumped up team member open fire play the level of aggression and team-spirit of an entire team, one yawning client can also affect the mood of sales-pitch meeting. Another good example of synchronisation among humans is if a group is sitting around a campfire and the leader yawns, it most likely will act as a signal to the others that it may be time to call it a night. Yawning is ordinarily perceived to be a sign of tireom or tiredness. Dr. Robert Provine, know as the yawn-expert from the University of Maryland, performed a look at on 17-19 year old students to try this perception. In comparison to a group of students who watched music videos for 30 minutes, a group who watched an uninteresting color test bar pattern for 30 minutes yawned more (10). Dr. Provine also suggested that yawning is like stretching (5). oftentimes like stretching, blood pressure and heart rate can be increased just by yawning. Perhaps animals yawn instinctively when bored or tired to get their blood pumping so that they may be physically stimulated to move or seek a parvenu activity. But then why is it that we yawn after waking up? If we yawn after waking as a physical propel to become active thats one thing. But yawning as a sign of tiredness can be ruled out if we yawn after waking from a restful sleep. Maybe a study could be done in which a comparison could be do between the hours of sleep and the occurrence of yawning when waking.