Children under four and children with autism don't yawn contagiously

Researchers at the University of Connecticut have conducted a study which may yield new clues about that ever-mysterious phenomenon, yawning. From ScienceDaily:

If someone near you yawns, do you yawn, too? About half of adults yawn after someone else does in a phenomenon called contagious yawning. Now a new study has found that most children aren't susceptible to contagious yawning until they're about 4 years old -- and that children with autism are less likely to yawn contagiously than others.

"Given that contagious yawning may be a sign of empathy, this study suggests that empathy -- and the mimicry that may underlie it -- develops slowly over the first few years of life, and that children with ASD may miss subtle cues that tie them emotionally to others," according to the researchers. This study may provide guidance for approaches to working with children with ASD so that they focus more on such cues.

There seems to be something to this argument. Many animals yawn, but most don't yawn contagiously - those that do tend to be social mammals like chimpanzees.

You can read more here.

(Did reading this make you yawn? If not, you'll probably yawn now.)