Comments on: Episode 28: Is Yawning Contagious?

By: Gerard

Gerard — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 23:32:22 +0000

Sorry, just caught this episode. I’m probably not adding anything new here, but the Fisher’s exact test for the yawn test is p=1.0. The result is indistinguishable from that expected by chance.

While it is true that this means the ‘myth’ is ‘plausible’, it is wrong to say that yawns being contagious has been proven by this experiment.

Very large numbers would need to be tested (in far more rigorous conditions) to obtain p < 0.05.

Perhaps MB could consider engaging the services of a statistician to comment before judging their own results.

By: Barking

Barking — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 08:00:41 +0000

Wrong – an unconfirmed hypothesis can still be WAY more plausible than another unconfirmed hypothesis. Sometimes it’s just waiting for the right experimental deign.

I politely suggest, look up the definition of plausible. Then find out if the experiment has been repeated. Then try to understand the difference between proof of absence and absence of proof. Then get a life.

By: Jack

Jack — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 03:15:45 +0000

YAWNING IS CONTAGIOUS.

By: ashley

ashley — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 22:50:46 +0000

i yawned and 60% of my class yawned it was halarious

By: JasonD

JasonD — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 18:22:08 +0000

I fully agree. Perhaps the problem is that the Mythbuster categorization system (Confirmed, Plausible, Busted) does not include ‘No Result’ label, as such would admit defeat.

Although, in this case, the lack of statistical significance should have indicated ‘Tentatively Busted’.

By: Sariah

Sariah — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 21:38:48 +0000

Scientific American reported on studies about yawning a few months ago. The findings suggested that contagious yawning was influenced by empathy, of all things.

I think this myth should be retested using complete strangers vs. close friends vs. family members and see if that makes a difference.

By: Tony

Tony — Sat, 16 Jul 2011 01:18:38 +0000

I definitely yawned a number of times through this episode…any not once through many others. I think it’s plausible.

By: Beni

Beni — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 20:36:18 +0000

On the small car experiment, I saw you had problems with the track, because the sun kept dilating the track, and the cars would fall out. Maybe the experiment would have had better chances in the evening, since then the track would contract, and make the track more straight, exactly opposite as the morning effect.

By: dave

dave — Fri, 10 Jun 2011 07:22:03 +0000

Yawning is caused by a small rise in carbon dioxide in the blood stream. When this occurs in a (semi enclosed) area to a level where one person starts to yawn, this cue can illicit a response from others also being effected by the CO2 level in the room, but they would eventually yawn anyway once their personal CO2 level threshold was reached. So it is contageous? No, but it could appear to be if one only looks at the effect of suggestion, not that there is a cause too and it need not be a room low in CO2, it could be something as simple as an inactive, tired person has decreased breathing rate.

As for felixnoir’s suggestion that humans are pack animals, no they are not to this extent. You may find that within a group that if one or more members of the group doesn’t something of questionable social grace, it puts the others more at ease about doing similar things but they don’t do it to be conformist, the copying of each other is not a conscious or subconscious decision, it is merely that being genetically near identical and being in the same environment, they are effected to similar extends and exhibit similar responses to that environment.

By: felixnoir

felixnoir — Sun, 15 May 2011 14:37:43 +0000

Guys. Leave the science to the scientists. Every time New Scientist needs a filler they reprint some piece of research that proves that yawning is catching.

The wonder is not that yawning is catching. The wonder is that we focus on that to the exclusion of other behaviours. Humans are primates and pack animals. We unconsciously copy each other. Sneezing is catching. Scratching yer bum is catching. Believing that there are aliens lurking outside the office door is catching. Watching Mythbusters is, fortunately for you, catching if you consider yourself to be a member of that particular pack.

You guys are not scientists. You are inventor-engineers. Like most inventor-engineers, you have a zest for practical fun, a theoretical side that has some gaping holes, and a somewhat limited grasp of history and culture. Because these cause you to fit well into your pack they are your strengths .