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 6/11/2017
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