Punishment-induced fear modifies the daily course of yawning in rats

A challenge in the study of yawning behavior is understanding the way external factors may modify it. This study investigated whether response-dependent punishment or random punishment decreased yawning by the application of buzzer noise paired with electric shocks in a high-yawning strain of Sprague-Dawley male rats. Yawn rate increased daily in response to the experimental cage, and also to the buzzer noise. Two alternate periods of no punishment and punishment were followed by a final period of buzzer noise occurring alone. Punishment did not diminish yawning significantly in either condition although the yawn rate increased in the following period of no punishment and in the buzzer-noise period, relative to the period of yawn-dependent punishment. Yawn rate increased in the buzzer-noise period relative to the first period of no punishment and first period of random punishment. These findings indicate that there are constraints that impede the suppression of yawning using punishment, and that yawning is a delayed response to fear produced by response-dependent punishment.