From: deputydog23x@gmail.com   
      
   Yawns More Contagious Among Friends    
      
   People who are emotionally connected are more likely to catch the yawns from   
   one another.    
      
   By Jef Akst | December 7, 2011    
      
      
   Most people have experienced "yawn contagion"--when one person in the groups   
   starts yawning, everyone starts doing it. But the cause of this phenomenon has   
   long stumped scientists. Now a new study published today (December 7) in PLoS   
   ONE, suggests that    
   the contagion may be due to social empathy.    
      
   Researchers at the University of Pisa in Italy found that yawns are more   
   contagious in terms of occurrence, frequency, and response latency among   
   family and friends than acquaintances strangers. In fact, just like other   
   measures of empathy, the rate of    
   contagion was greatest first among kin, then friends, then acquaintances, then   
   strangers, suggesting that the neuronal activation that triggered the yawning   
   response differs depending on familiarity with the yawner.    
      
   "We present the only naturalistic study of yawn contagion in humans that   
   provides evidence of the linkage between yawn contagion and empathy," the   
   authors wrote. "Our results demonstrate that yawn contagion is primarily   
   driven by the emotional closeness    
   between individuals."    
      
      
   http://mobile.the-scientist.com/article/31488/yawns-more-contagi   
   us-among-friends   
      
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