A member asked:

Why do people yawn when someone around them yawns? is it psychological or actually contagious?

A doctor has provided 1 answer
Dr. Donald Haupt answered

Specializes in Psychiatry

No definite answer: Contagious yawning has been known since at least the 16th century, but there has yet to be an explanation that stood up under testing. The best was that people have a grouping of "mirror neurons" in their brains that do imitative behaviors, but recent studies show that these neurons aren't activated during contagious yawning. It remains somewhat of a mystery.

Answered 10/3/2016

5.8k views

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