ArticleFrontiers in neuroscience2012
The thermoregulatory theory of yawning: what we know from over 5 years of research.
Article in Frontiers in neuroscience, 2012. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 39 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
39 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 80 citations in OpenAlex.
- A Review on the Vagus Nerve and Autonomic Nervous System During Fetal Development: Searching for Critical Windows.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2021Pooled it
- Bridging Gaps inAnimals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2026Review
- Article
- Fetal yawning and mouth openings: Frequency, developmental trends, and association with birth weight.PloS one · 2026Article
- Yawning as Therapy? The Potential of the Conditioned Yawn Reflex as a Novel Treatment for Insomnia Disorder.Journal of sleep research · 2025Article
- Chimpanzees yawn when observing an android yawn.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Yawning in sync: implications for social cohesion in horses.Current zoology · 2025Article
- An unusual case of yawning during sleep associated with sleep bruxism and obstructive sleep apnea-a case report.Frontiers in medicine · 2025Article
- Differential potentiation of odor aversion and yawning by melanocortin 4 receptor signaling in distinct regions of the ventral striatum.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2025Article
- More than a simple fixed action pattern: Yawning in drills.Primates; journal of primatology · 2024Article
- On the link between rapid eye movement sleep and yawning.Sleep & breathing = Schlaf & Atmung · 2024Article
- Yawning and scratching contagion in wild spider monkeys (Ateles geoffroyi).Scientific reports · 2023Article
- The evidence does not support long-term oxygenation as a functional explanation for the evolution of yawning.Sleep & breathing = Schlaf & Atmung · 2023Article
- Reply to letter to the editor regarding "yawning and airway physiology: a scoping review and novel hypothesis".Sleep & breathing = Schlaf & Atmung · 2023Article
- How video calls affect mimicry and trust during interactions.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2023Article
- Locus Coeruleus in Non-Mammalian Vertebrates.Brain sciences · 2022Review
- Selective Brain Cooling: A New Horizon of Neuroprotection.Frontiers in neurology · 2022Review
- Factors affecting yawning frequencies in preterm neonates.PloS one · 2022Article
- People that score high on psychopathic traits are less likely to yawn contagiously.Scientific reports · 2021Article
- Not all yawns tell the same story: The case of Tonkean macaques.American journal of primatology · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
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 explain these results, which have important implications for understanding the potential functional role of this behavior, both physiologically and socially, in humans and other animals. In discussion we stress the broader applications of this work in clinical settings, and counter the various criticisms of this theory.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.