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The Thermoregulatory Theory Of Yawning: What We Know From Over Five Years Of Research, Andrew C. Gallup, Omar Tonsi Eldakar
The Thermoregulatory Theory Of Yawning: What We Know From Over Five Years Of Research, Andrew C. Gallup, Omar Tonsi Eldakar
Biology Faculty Articles
Over the past 5 years numerous reports have confirmed and replicated the specific brain cooling and thermal window predictions derived from the thermoregulatory theory of yawning, and no study has found evidence contrary to these findings. Here we review the comparative research supporting this model of yawning among homeotherms, while highlighting a recent report showing how the expression of contagious yawning in humans is altered by seasonal climate variation. The fact that yawning is constrained to a thermal window of ambient temperature provides unique and compelling support in favor of this theory. Heretofore, no existing alternative hypothesis of yawning can …