ArticleBMC neuroscience2017
Yawning reduces facial temperature in the high-yawning subline of Sprague-Dawley rats.
Article in BMC neuroscience, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 11 papers.
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Who cites it
11 citing papers in PubMed, 28 citations in OpenAlex.
- Fetal yawning and mouth openings: Frequency, developmental trends, and association with birth weight.PloS one · 2026Article
- Interspecific Contagious Yawning in Humans.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2022Article
- Factors affecting yawning frequencies in preterm neonates.PloS one · 2022Article
- Selective Brain Cooling: A New Horizon of Neuroprotection.Frontiers in neurology · 2022Review
- Brain size and neuron numbers drive differences in yawn duration across mammals and birds.Communications biology · 2021Article
- Experimental evidence for yawn contagion in orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus).Scientific reports · 2020Article
- One thousand yawns.Primates; journal of primatology · 2020Article
- Brain weight predicts yawn duration across domesticated dog breeds.Current zoology · 2020Article
- Yawning and Penile Erection Frequencies Are Resilient to Maternal Care Manipulation in the High-Yawning Subline of Sprague-Dawley Rats.Frontiers in behavioral neuroscience · 2020Article
- Contagious yawning in virtual reality is affected by actual, but not simulated, social presence.Scientific reports · 2019Article
- Thermal imaging reveals sizable shifts in facial temperature surrounding yawning in budgerigars (Temperature (Austin, Tex.) · 2017Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundYawning is a stereotyped behavior that enhances blood flow to the skull, and the resulting counterflow has been hypothesized as a mechanism for brain cooling. Studies have shown that yawns are strongly associated with physiological and pathological conditions that increase brain temperature, and that they are followed by equivalent decreases in brain temperature. However, measured reductions in cranial or facial temperatures following yawning have yet to be reported, to our knowledge. To accomplish this, we used a subline of Sprague-Dawley rats that yawn at a much greater rate (20 yawns/h) than do outbred Sprague-Dawley rats (2 yawns/h).
resultsUsing an infrared camera, we effectively evaluated thermal changes in the cornea and concha of these rats before, during, and after yawns. The maximum temperature in both regions significantly decreased 10 s following yawns (concha: -0.3 °C, cornea: -0.4 °C), with a return to basal temperatures after 20 s.
conclusionsThis study is the first clear demonstration of yawning-induced thermal cooling on the surface of the face, providing convergent evidence that this behavior plays a functional role in thermoregulation. As other studies have demonstrated that yawning is capable of reducing cortical brain temperature, our current data support the idea that yawning functions as a thermoregulator, affecting all structures within the head.
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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.