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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Feb 23, 2026

A Laboratory Method to Measure Contagious Yawning in Rats
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A Neural Basis for Contagious Yawning.

Beverley J Brown1, Soyoung Kim2, Hannah Saunders3

  • 1School of Psychology, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, NG7 2RD, UK.

Current Biology : CB
|September 5, 2017
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Contagious yawning, a form of echophenomena, is linked to motor cortex excitability. Individual differences in contagious yawning propensity are predicted by transcranial magnetic stimulation measures of cortical excitability and inhibition.

Keywords:
TMSTourette syndromecontagious yawningechophenomenamotor cortextranscranial magnetic stimulation

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Area of Science:

  • Neuroscience
  • Cognitive Science
  • Human Behavior

Background:

  • Contagious yawning is an involuntary response to observing yawning, a type of echophenomena.
  • The neural underpinnings of echophenomena, including contagious yawning, are not fully understood.
  • Previous hypotheses suggest links to the mirror-neuron system and motor cortex excitability.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the neural basis of contagious yawning.
  • To determine if motor cortical excitability and physiological inhibition predict individual differences in contagious yawning.
  • To examine the effect of resisting yawning on yawn expression and propensity.

Main Methods:

  • Thirty-six adults participated in the study.
  • Participants viewed videos of yawning and were instructed to either resist or allow yawning.
  • Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) was used to measure motor cortical excitability and physiological inhibition.

Main Results:

  • Instructions to resist yawning increased the urge to yawn but did not change contagious yawning propensity.
  • TMS measures of cortical excitability and physiological inhibition significantly predicted contagious yawning.
  • These neural measures accounted for approximately 50% of the variability in contagious yawning.

Conclusions:

  • Individual differences in contagious yawning are primarily determined by cortical excitability and physiological inhibition in the primary motor cortex.
  • Contagious yawning is a neurophysiological trait rather than solely a cognitive or behavioral one.
  • This study provides novel insights into the neural mechanisms underlying social contagion and imitation.