Yawning: No effect of 3–5% CO2, 100% O2, and exercise

doi:10.1016/S0163-1047(87)90944-7

Behavioral and Neural Biology

Volume 48, Issue 3, November 1987, Pages 382-393

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0163-1047(87)90944-7 Get rights and content

Using human college-age subjects, the present study tested the commonly cited but previously untested hypothesis that yawning is facilitated by higher than normal levels of CO₂ or lower than normal levels of O₂ in the blood by comparing the effect on yawning of breathing 100% O₂ and gas mixtures with higher than normal levels of CO₂ (3 or 5%) with compressed air, the control condition. If yawning is a response to heightened blood CO₂, the CO₂ mixtures should increase yawning rate and/or duration. If low blood O₂ produced yawning, breathing 100% O₂ should inhibit yawning. The CO₂/O₂ hypothesis was rejected because breathing neither pure O₂ nor gases high in CO₂ had a significant effect on yawning although both increased breathing rate. A second study found that exercise sufficient to double breathing rate had no effect on yawning. The two studies suggest that yawning does not serve a primary respiratory function and that yawning and breathing are triggered by different internal states and are controlled by separate mechanisms.

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Cited by (79)

The causes and consequences of yawning in animal groups
2022, Animal Behaviour
Citation Excerpt :
This includes the common, but incorrect, assertion that yawning functions to equilibrate blood oxygen levels. Through a series of elegant experiments on human subjects, Provine, Tate, et al. (1987) demonstrated that yawn frequency is not altered by breathing enhanced or decreased levels of O2 or CO2, and physical exercise sufficient to double breathing rates had no effect on yawning. It has therefore been concluded that yawning and breathing are controlled by different mechanisms, and it is now widely accepted in the scientific literature that respiration is not a necessary component of yawning (Corey et al., 2012; Guggisberg et al., 2010).
Yawning is a stereotyped action pattern that is prevalent across vertebrates. While there is growing consensus on the physiological functions of spontaneous yawning in neurovascular circulation and brain cooling, far less is known about how the act of yawning alters the cognition and behaviour of observers. By bridging and synthesizing a wide range of literature, this review attempts to provide a unifying framework for understanding the evolution and elaboration of derived features of yawning in social vertebrates. Recent studies in animal behaviour, psychology and neuroscience now provide evidence that yawns serve as a cue that improves the vigilance of observers, and that contagious yawning functions to synchronize and/or coordinate group activity patterns. These social responses to yawning align with research on the physiological significance of this behaviour, as well as the ubiquitous temporal and contextual variation in yawn frequency across mammals and birds. In addition, these changes in mental processing and behaviour resulting from the detection of yawning in others are consistent with variability in the expression of yawn contagion based on affinity and social status in primates. Topics for further research in these areas are discussed.
Yawn-like behavior in captive common bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus)
2021, Behavioural Processes
Citation Excerpt :
The second hypothesis is the respiration and circulation hypothesis, which states that yawning occurs when there is insufficient oxygen supply to the blood or brain, or when there is an oxygen decrease and carbon dioxide increase in the body (Guggisberg et al., 2010). However, this hypothesis was disproved by Provine et al. (1987). The third hypothesis is the brain cooling hypothesis, which suggests that yawning can change the blood flow inside the body or within the brain, resulting in a decrease in brain temperature (Gallup and Gallup, 2008).
Yawning is an involuntary action that begins with a slow opening of the mouth with inhalation, followed by a maximum gaping phase, and ends with a short exhalation and the closing of the mouth. A wide variety of vertebrate species, including humans, yawn. Here, we report underwater yawn-like behavior in three captive common bottlenose dolphins, inferred from 119-h of observations. Five cases of yawn-like behavior were selected out of 2045 open-mouth behaviors, after removing intentional open-mouth behaviors. Yawn-like behaviors were chosen that had a mouth open–close duration ratio of ≤ 1 (duration of Phase 3, the period of mouth closing after maximum opening, divided by the duration of Phase 1, the period of mouth opening from start to maximum opening). Naïve human evaluators selected “yawn-like” behaviors. All five cases of yawn-like behavior occurred during inactive periods, similar to human yawns. In three of the five cases, inactivity levels significantly decreased within 4 min after the yawn-like behavior; therefore, yawn-like behavior in dolphins may increase their arousal level in drowsy states. Thus, the yawn-like behavior of dolphins, without breathing, is similar to yawning in terrestrial animals, including humans.
Yawning—Its anatomy, chemistry, role, and pathological considerations
2018, Progress in Neurobiology
Yawning is a clinical sign of the activity of various supra- and infratentorial brain regions including the putative brainstem motor pattern, hypothalamic paraventricular nucleus, probably the insula and limbic structures that are interconnected via a fiber network. This interaction can be seen in analogy to other cerebral functions arising from a network or zone such as language. Within this network, yawning fulfills its function in a stereotype, reflex-like manner; a phylogenetically old function, preserved across species barriers, with the purpose of arousal, communication, and maybe other functions including respiration. Abnormal yawning with ≥3 yawns/15 min without obvious cause arises from lesions of brain areas involved in the yawning zone, its trajectories causing a disconnection syndrome, or from alteration of network activity by physical or metabolic etiologies including medication.
Yawning: a cue and a signal
2017, Heliyon
Yawning behaviour has been associated with a variety of physiological and social events and a number of corresponding functions have been attributed to it. Non-directed (self-directed behaviour) and directed yawning (display behaviour) might nonetheless encompass all expressions of yawning, although it is difficult to differentiate one type from the other in a social context. Here we analysed more fully the data from a study in which four combinations of sensory cues were presented to pairs of either cage mate or stranger rats. The aim of the re-analysis was to demonstrate that non-directed and directed yawning might be identified by their distinctive functions. All pairs of rats used olfactory cues to recognise each other as stranger or cage mate companions, but only stranger rats used auditory cues to detect and respond to each other’s yawning. Increasing defecation rates (i.e. an index of emotional reactivity) inhibited yawning in cage mate rats such that yawning frequency reflected each rat’s physiological state. These results suggest that non-directed yawning functions as a cue in cage mate rats and directed yawning as a signal in stranger rats. We hypothesize that cue yawning might be a regulatory act that animals perform to adjust muscle tone for a coordinated change of state. Signal yawning might indicate the physiological capacity of rats in male-male conflicts.
Why contagious yawning does not (yet) equate to empathy
2017, Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews
Various studies and researchers have proposed a link between contagious yawning and empathy, yet the conceptual basis for the proposed connection is not clear and deserves critical evaluation. Therefore, we systematically examined the available empirical evidence addressing this association; i.e., a critical review of studies on inter-individual differences in contagion and self-reported values of empathy, differences in contagion based on familiarity or sex, and differences in contagion among individuals with psychological disorders, as well as developmental research, and brain imaging and neurophysiological studies. In doing so, we reveal a pattern of inconsistent and inconclusive evidence regarding the connection between contagious yawning and empathy. Furthermore, we identify study limitations and confounding variables, such as visual attention and social inhibition. Future research examining links between contagious yawning and empathy requires more rigorous investigation involving objective measurements to explicitly test for this connection.
The roots of empathy: Through the lens of rodent models
2017, Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews
Citation Excerpt :
The effect was observed uniformly among mammals. It was reported in humans (Gallup and Church, 2015; Platek et al., 2003; Provine et al., 1987), non-human primates (Campbell and de Waal, 2011, 2010), canines (Romero et al., 2014) and rodents (Moyaho et al., 2015) alike. Contagious yawning has been shown to have no respiratory function (Provine et al., 1987).
Empathy is a phenomenon often considered dependent on higher-order emotional control and an ability to relate to the emotional state of others. It is, by many, attributed only to species having well-developed cortical circuits capable of performing such complex tasks. However, over the years, a wealth of data has been accumulated showing that rodents are capable not only of sharing emotional states of their conspecifics, but also of prosocial behavior driven by such shared experiences. The study of rodent empathic behaviors is only now becoming an independent research field. Relevant animal models allow precise manipulation of neural networks, thereby offering insight into the foundations of empathy in the mammalian brains. Here we review the data on empathic behaviors in rat and mouse models, their neurobiological and neurophysiological correlates, and the factors influencing these behaviors. We discuss how simple rodent models of empathy enhance our understanding of how brain controls empathic behaviors.

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²: We gratefully acknowledge the statistical assistance of Marilyn E. Demorest and the editorial comments of A. Charles Catania and two anonymous referees.

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Yawning: No effect of 3–5% CO2, 100% O2, and exercise

What's in a yawn?

Today's Health

What's in a yawn?

Today's Health

Yawning

Journal of Neurological and Neurosurgical Psychiatry

Yawns

Baltimore Evening Sun

Yawn maneuver to prevent atelectasis

AORN Journal

Physiology of respiration

The respiratory and circulatory response of normal man to inhalation of 7.6 and 10.4 percent CO2 with a comparison of the maximal ventilation produced by severe muscular exercise, inhalation of CO2 and maximal voluntary hyperventilation

American Journal of Physiology

Stretching and yawning after intracerebral injections of ACTH

Review of Canadian Biology

The mental growth of the pre-school child

Sopite syndrome: A sometimes side effect of motion sickness

Aviation, Space, and Environmental Medicine

Yawning: No effect of 3–5% CO₂, 100% O₂, and exercise

The respiratory and circulatory response of normal man to inhalation of 7.6 and 10.4 percent CO₂ with a comparison of the maximal ventilation produced by severe muscular exercise, inhalation of CO₂ and maximal voluntary hyperventilation