Functions of Spontaneous Yawning: A Review

DOI

10.2991/assehr.k.220704.004How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Yawning; Thermoregulation; Airway; Arousal; Circadian Rhythm; Stress; Physiological; Evolution

Abstract

Yawning is an important prehistorical physiological mechanism that exist in animals across a variety of species. In the past 50 years, investigation of spontaneous yawning and contagious yawning has been ongoing. Several hypotheses were introduced to this field, such as the circadian hypothesis, brain-cooling hypothesis, and oxygenation hypothesis. These theories now trigger growing debates, and each theory are supported by their own evidence. Here, this review examines three popular hypotheses and reveals the arguments among them. Conversely, one novel hypothesis of mental stress seems more convincing than the other three hypotheses, and needs to be examined by empirical studies.

Copyright

© 2022 The Authors. Published by Atlantis Press SARL.

Open Access

This is an open access article distributed under the CC BY-NC 4.0 license.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Duruo Jin
PY  - 2022
DA  - 2022/07/11
TI  - Functions of Spontaneous Yawning: A Review
BT  - Proceedings of the 2022 3rd International Conference on Mental Health, Education and Human Development (MHEHD 2022)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 14
EP  - 19
SN  - 2352-5398
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/assehr.k.220704.004
DO  - 10.2991/assehr.k.220704.004
ID  - Jin2022
ER  -