Neuroscience For Kids
Do Dogs Catch Yawns?
August 26, 2009
Last year, Neuroscience for Kids described an
experiment that showed how 72% of dogs were susceptible to contagious
yawning by watching people yawn. New research suggests otherwise; this
new study found that few dogs yawned when they watched
videos of people or other dogs yawn.
Researchers in the Department of Psychology at Hiram College (Hiram, Ohio) tested 15 dogs (ages 2-11 years old). They had the dogs watch video clips of dogs and people yawning or making open-mouth movements.
Results:
- Number of yawns after watching dog yawning videos compared to the number of yawns after watching dog open-mouth (no yawn) videos - NO DIFFERENCE!
- Number of yawns after watching human yawning videos compared to the number of yawns after watching human open-mouth (no yawn) videos - NO DIFFERENCE!
- Only one of the 15 (6.7%) dogs showed more yawns after watching yawning videos, and most of these yawns were made after watching human yawns, not dog yawns).
This
new study used different methods to measure contagious yawning behavior.
Unlike the earlier study that used real human subjects, the new study used
videos of yawning people and dogs. It is likely that dogs react
differently to real people than they do to watching videos. Also, dogs
may respond differently to unfamiliar people (and dogs).
References and further information:
- Harr, A.L., Gilbert, V.R. and Phillips, K.A., Do dogs (Canis familiaris show contagious yawning?, Animal Cognition, DOI 10.1007/s10071-009-0233-0, 2009.
- Dogs Catch Sticks, Balls and...Yawns - Neuroscience for Kids (2008)
- Contagious Yawning - Neuroscience for Kids
- Yawning - Neuroscience for Kids
Copyright © 1996-2009, Eric H. Chudler, University of Washington
