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Background

Contagious yawning and the brain Steven M. Platek, Feroze B. Mohamed, Gordon G. Gallup Jr. A summary by Erica Hunter. Background. Empathic modeling hypothesis Primitive expression of cognitive processes involved in self awareness and theory of mind

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Background

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  1. Contagious yawning and the brainSteven M. Platek, Feroze B. Mohamed, Gordon G. Gallup Jr.A summary by Erica Hunter

  2. Background • Empathic modeling hypothesis • Primitive expression of cognitive processes involved in self awareness and theory of mind • Seeing someone yawn activates a system that is also involved in consciously modeling other aspects of interpersonal mentality. • Innate mirror neuron system • Automatically synchronizing own behaviours with others’ How to test these? - Explore the neural correlates of contagious yawning when compared to laughing!

  3. Hypothesis • Viewing someone yawn will result in significant activation in right prefrontal substrates and midline cortical structures

  4. Experimental Design • Use fMRI to measure BOLD responses while volunteers watch and respond to videos of people yawning and laughing. • Compare BOLD responses • Yawn vs laugh; laugh vs yawn • Yawn vs baseline; laugh vs baseline Laughing = control (similar face and mouth movements; also contagious)

  5. Results and Discussion When contrasting yawn minus laugh… • Unique neural substrates • Bilateral posterior cingulate & precuneus • Self-referent processing • Retrieval of autobiographical memories Supports EMPATHIC MODELING HYPOTHESIS!

  6. Weaknesses and Confounds • Small sample size • Volunteer college students The next step: Toddlers and contagious yawning - Why not?

  7. References • Platek, S. M., Mohamed, F. B., Gallup, G. G. Jr. (2005) Contagious yawning and the brain. Cognitive Brain Research, 23: 448-452. Doi: • Anderson, J. R. and Meno, P. (2003) Psychological influences on yawning in children. Behaviour, Brain, and Cognition, 11(2): 2-7. Retrieved from http://cpl.revues.org/index390.html

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