More than half of the adults who see another person yawn are infected by imitating the gesture, however it was not so clear as of when this curious phenomenon occurs. A study by researchers at the University of Connecticut (USA) has seen that it does not happen among young babies and that Yawning in children is not spread until age four.
Although they believed it was something that happened during the first year of life, the study authors were surprised to see that it happens much later. It has a lot to do with empathy, they say. A kind of measure of the sensitivity of the emotions of others.
We have spoken several times in the blog about the development of young children and their socialization process. Interestingly, the age of contagion of yawning coincides with the stage at which it is believed that children begin an optimal socialization, between 3 years and 4 years. It is when the concept of empathy arises, that is, of being able to put oneself in the situation of others.
Returning to yawn, it is still a mystery why we cannot avoid opening our mouths when we see another yawn or even simply when we think of yawning. It is a kind of chain reaction, as is the case with the crying of young children: one cries and the rest is infected. What is increasingly clear is that both reactions are closely related to the emotional.
Another interesting detail that emerges from the study is that it has been observed that autistic children may lack this empathy when yawning or develop it late, suggesting that these children may ignore the subtle cues that bind them emotionally to others.
Than yawn is not spread until age four and not before it could mean that there is much more than a reflex act behind the yawn. There seems to be a feeling of social and emotional correspondence that children develop only at that age.
