Research Article  Yawn Contagion and Empathy in Homo sapiens
• Ivan Norscia,      Affiliation: Centro Interdipartimentale
Museo di Storia Naturale e del Territorio, Università di Pisa,
Calci, Pisa, Italy    • Elisabetta Palagi mail
Affiliations: Centro Interdipartimentale Museo di Storia
Naturale e del Territorio, Università di Pisa, Calci, Pisa,
Italy, Unità di Primatologia Cognitiva, ISTC-CNR, Roma, Italy
• Published: December 07, 2011   • DOI:
10.1371/journal.pone.0028472   The ability to share others'
emotions, or empathy, is crucial for complex social
interactions. Clinical, psychological, and neurobiological clues
suggest a link between yawn contagion and empathy in humans
(Homo sapiens). However, no behavioral evidence has been
provided so far. We tested the effect of different variables
(e.g., country of origin, sex, yawn characteristics) on yawn
contagion by running mixed models applied to observational data
collected over 1 year on adult (>16 years old) human subjects.
Only social bonding