Question

"Why are yawns contagious? We asked a scientist"
by Teresa Carey

What is known is that the behavior is contagious. The likelihood of yawning increases six fold, according to one study, after seeing someone else yawn.

As for yawn contagion, Giordano said it may be related to a phenomenon called social mirroring, where organisms imitate the actions of others. Other behaviors fall into this category, such as scratching, leg crossing and laughing.

Giordano said this behavior could be linked to mirror neurons in the brain.

“What these neurons are involved in is matching what we sense and feel to the way we move,” Giordano said. “So if someone is seeing me scratch my face, they would know what it feels like. You may be compelled to do it too.”

Zhou-Feng Chen, director at Washington University’s Center for the Study of Itch has conducted research on social scratching in mice. When he showed a video of one mouse scratching itself to other mice, the mice began their own scratching within five seconds. And they were five times as likely to imitate the scratching relative to control animals.

Chen said that when animals mimic others, they must be recognizing a useful behavior. Without thinking, they decide, “This behavior must be very useful. So, I better do it.”

Chen said this behavior could save energy and protect animals against disease. For example, since wild animals don’t live in sanitized environments and are often exposed to biting and stinging insects that could carry disease, this mimicking could be helping them to ward off infection.

Social bonds, too, may be reinforced by yawning and other forms of imitative behavior may, Scammell said:

“If someone flashes you a nice friendly smile, without even thinking about it, you’re likely to smile back,” he said. “It is a form of social communication, and it appears that people who are more empathetic are more likely to have this social mirroring.”



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Question
Use the passage from “Why are yawns contagious? We asked a scientist.” to answer the question.

Which question, or claim, is answered by the passage?

Responses

Are yawning and smiling similar?
Are yawning and smiling similar? - no response given

What is social mirroring?
What is social mirroring? - no response given

Why are yawns contagious?
Why are yawns contagious? - no response given

Do most animals yawn?
Do most animals yawn? - no response given

Answer 1

Why are yawns contagious?

The passage explains that yawns are contagious likely because of social mirroring (imitative behavior linked to mirror neurons). Evidence includes studies showing increased yawning after seeing others yawn and experiments with mice that imitate scratching—suggesting mimicry helps recognize useful behaviors, save energy, protect against disease, and reinforce social bonds and empathy.