Do you yawn when someone else does?

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07 Jan 2013, 4:43 am

Supposedly, it's due to what's called social empathy.

I don't.

I can't remember reading anything relating such to ASDs.

FishStickNick
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07 Jan 2013, 4:47 am

Sometimes, but it kind of depends on how aware I am that the other person yawned. Like, seeing someone else yawn in of itself won't necessarily make me yawn, but if I'm thinking, "oh that person yawned, and they say yawning is contagious," then I might be more likely to yawn. Not sure if that's actually an empathic response or more "the power of suggestion," as it were.

Last edited by FishStickNick on 07 Jan 2013, 5:14 am, edited 1 time in total.

Sylvastor
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07 Jan 2013, 4:49 am

I am mostly unaffected by it, although it also depends on the day and circumstances.
I guess maybe in something in between 50-75% of cases I don't yawn.

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Dillogic
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07 Jan 2013, 4:52 am

Ha (there's a study on everything, really).

Quote:

A 2007 study found that young children with autism spectrum disorders do not increase their yawning frequency after seeing videos of other people yawning, in contrast to typically developing children. In fact, the autistic children actually yawned less during the videos of yawning than during the control videos. This supports the claim that contagious yawning is related to empathic capacity.

Dreycrux
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07 Jan 2013, 5:21 am

I yawn before I see people yawn, I yawn after I see people yawn, I yawn when people are not yawning, I yawn when im not tired, I yawn mid sentence, I yawn while exercising...I'm on Cipralex yo!

Last edited by Dreycrux on 07 Jan 2013, 5:24 am, edited 2 times in total.

Dillogic
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07 Jan 2013, 5:21 am

Quote:

Helt studied 28 children diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder — a group of disorders associated with developmental disabilities and problems with social interaction and communication — and compared them with 63 children not diagnosed with autism. The children were read a story by a researcher, who paused during the story to yawn.

While listening to the story, 23 percent of the children who were diagnosed with a mild form of autism called Pervasive Developmental Disorder-Not Otherwise Specified (PDD-NOS) yawned after observing the reader yawn.

Of the children diagnosed with full autistic disorder, none yawned.

The children not diagnosed with autism yawned at a rate near what would be expected for adults – about 43 percent of the time.

Interesting that it appears to be related to severity (though always impaired in ASDs to some extent) -- which would be evidence pointing to the empathy deficits lying along a scale of severity.

FishStickNick
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07 Jan 2013, 5:28 am

Dillogic wrote:

Quote:

Interesting that it appears to be related to severity (though always impaired in ASDs to some extent) -- which would be evidence pointing to the empathy deficits lying along a scale of severity.

Interesting. That would make sense, though, given the spectrum-y nature of autism in general.

Dillogic
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07 Jan 2013, 5:46 am

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dmZzKjm9Wbo[/youtube]

I got nothing (it seems to be a subconscious thingy that you can't control; probably a good adjunct to a diagnostic assessment). Ha, just mentioning it to my mother gets her yawning.

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07 Jan 2013, 5:56 am

I didn't even play the video, the picture made me yawn. In fact I think the posts before it talking about yawning made me yawn. I am a hypersomniac, though.

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07 Jan 2013, 5:57 am

That video didn't make me yawn.

Occasionally I yawn to make other people yawn.

answeraspergers
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07 Jan 2013, 6:04 am

I think infectious yawning is down to mirror neurons.

People with AS have less of these neurons so monkey see is not monkey do.

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07 Jan 2013, 6:06 am

I don't think the mirror neuron thing has been supported by subsequent studies.

answeraspergers
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07 Jan 2013, 6:09 am

You mean that AS people have less of them?

To be honest - you can find studies that point both ways. But they are an interesting function.

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/ult ... or-neurons

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07 Jan 2013, 6:16 am

Yes, that studies point both ways makes me a bit dubious. It's certainly possible, but I am not sure I accept it just yet.

Dillogic
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07 Jan 2013, 6:29 am

yellowtamarin wrote:

I didn't even play the video, the picture made me yawn. In fact I think the posts before it talking about yawning made me yawn. I am a hypersomniac, though.

Supposedly, being tired and whatnot shouldn't factor in to it. My mother was yawning repeatably when I just mentioned it, and she's a highly empathetic person (she does have symptoms of an ASD). That'd mean you'd be reasonably empathetic too if these people are to be believed.

I like how the video says dogs are more empathetic than humans when taken as a whole. That makes lots of sense.

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07 Jan 2013, 6:40 am

Dillogic wrote:

yellowtamarin wrote:

I didn't even play the video, the picture made me yawn. In fact I think the posts before it talking about yawning made me yawn. I am a hypersomniac, though.

True, that last part was a joke really but I forgot to add a smiley. I would come up as empathetic in that study, but if I was to take part in a study where I took an EQ or similar survey, I'd come up very low on empathy. So it's a bit confusing and an area that really is not well understood at all.

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