Source: Crazy Snail

Don't be offended if a friend of yours is yawning in the middle of an interesting story you are telling. Researchers believe that contagious yawning - yawning after someone does - is a sign of interest in the thoughts and feelings of the person who yawned first.

This is the theory of Italian scientists, who observed more than 100 men and women from four continents when they went to work, ate in restaurants, or sat in waiting rooms.

The instant one of the volunteers yawned, the researchers observed if anyone within a three-meter radius "caught" the yawn, that is, yawned for the next three minutes. Results show that race and sex had no effect on the uncontrollable desire to yawn. But the fact that people knew each other interfered with yawning.

Zeca Camargo showing all his empathy for viewers

A reciprocal yawn is more likely to happen between family members, friends, and acquaintances. The phenomenon was less common in strangers. For the University of Pisa, contagious yawning is driven by the way we are emotionally close to someone and the empathy we have with that person.

According to the Daily Mail, we began to catch yawns at the age of four, at a time when we developed the ability to properly identify other people's emotions. Studies show that those most susceptible to contagious yawning can better decipher what others are thinking by analyzing their faces.

Via Tecmundo