14 DAY TRIAL // According to the conclusions of a new scientific study conducted by researchers at the Duke Center for Human Genome Variation, it would appear that proponents of a connection between empathy and contagious yawning were wrong. The investigation was unable to find any meaningful connection between the two, the team explains.
In a series of experiments, scientists checked to see whether variables including empathy, tiredness, and energy levels were related to the likelihood of people engaging in contagious yawning. No statistical-relevant connections were discovered between these phenomena. Additionally, the team led by Elizabet Cirulli, PhD, found that contagious yawning decreases significantly with age.
While scientists admit that empathy and yawning after seeing another person yawn may be connected at least to some extent, they argue that contagious yawning is not simply a product of someone feeling empathy for the person they see yawning. Interestingly, some individuals are more likely to engage in this behavior than others, PsychCentral reports.
“Age was the most important predictor of contagious yawning, and even age was not that important. The vast majority of variation in the contagious yawning response was just not explained,” Cirulli says. Her team investigated 328 healthy volunteers for these experiments. Additional details of their work appear in the latest issue of the open-access, peer-reviewed scientific journal PLoS ONE.