ScienceDaily
(Oct. 23,
2012) — Do you get tired when others yawn? Does your dog get tired when
you yawn? New research from Lund University in Sweden establishes that dogs
catch yawns from humans. But not if the dogs are too young. The study,
published in Springer's journal Animal Cognition, found that, like humans,
dogs show a developmental trend in susceptibility to contagious yawning. While
dogs above seven months of age catch human yawns, younger dogs are immune to
yawn contagion.
Contagious yawning is not just
a sign of sleepiness or boredom. Previous research has shown contagious yawning
in humans, adult chimpanzees, baboons and dogs, and suggests that it can be
used as a measure of empathy. Empathy, mimicking the emotional responses of
others, is difficult to measure directly, but contagious yawning allows
assessment of a behavioral empathetic response, the researchers say.
While the development of
contagious yawning in human children has seen much research, this is the first
study to investigate its development in another species.
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