Which question or claim is answered by the passage?
Why are yawns contagious? We asked a scientists
What is known is that the behavior is contagious. The likelihood of yawning increases sixfold, according to one study after seeing someone else yawn. As for contagium, Giordano said it may be related to phenomenon, called social mirroring, where organisms imitate the actions of others. Other behaviors fall into this category such as scratching, leg, crossing, and laughing. Giordano said this behavior could be linked to mirror neurons in the brain. What these neurons are involved in is matching what we sent in field to the way we move, Giordano said so if someone is seeing me, scratch my face, they would know what it feels like. You may be compelled to do it too. Chen, Director at Washington University center for the study of it has conducted research on social, scratching in mice. When he showed a video of one mouse scratching itself to other mice the mice began their own scratching within five seconds and they were five times as likely to imitate the scratching to control animals. Chen said that when animals mimic others, they must be recognizing a useful behavior without thinking, they decide this behavior must be useful. So I better do it. Chen said this behavior would save energy and protect animals against disease for example, since wild animals don’t live in sanitized environments, and are exposed to biting and stinging insects that could carry disease this mimicking could be helpful to them to ward of infection. Social bonds to maybe reinforced bonding, and other forms of behavior may, Scammell said if someone flashes you a nice, friendly smile, without even thinking about it, you’re likely to smile back, he said. It is a form of social communication, and it appears that people who are more empathetic are more likely to have this social mirroring.
Why are yawns contagious?
Are yawning and smiling similar?
Do most animals yawn?
What is social mirroring?