Contagious yawning and the frontal lobe: An fMRI study

• Published in: Human brain mapping Vol. 30; no. 5; pp. 1744 - 1751
• Main Authors: Nahab, Fatta B., Hattori, Noriaki, Saad, Ziad S., Hallett, Mark
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Hoboken Wiley Subscription Services, Inc., A Wiley Company 01.05.2009; Wiley-Liss
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Analysis of Variance; Biological and medical sciences; Brain Mapping; contagion; Electrodiagnosis. Electric activity recording; Empathy; Female; fMRI; Frontal Lobe - blood supply; Frontal Lobe - physiology; Humans; Image Processing, Computer-Assisted - methods; Investigative techniques, diagnostic techniques (general aspects); Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Male; Medical sciences; Middle Aged; motor program; Nervous system; Oxygen - blood; Photic Stimulation - methods; Radiodiagnosis. Nmr imagery. Nmr spectrometry; Surveys and Questionnaires; urge; ventromedial prefrontal cortex; yawning; Yawning - physiology; Young Adult; Frontal lobe; Nervous system diseases; Radiodiagnosis; Central nervous system; Prefrontal cortex; Nuclear magnetic resonance imaging; urge; Encephalon; Motor program; contagion; fMRI; Yawning; ventromedial prefrontal cortex
• ISSN: 1065-9471; 1097-0193; 1097-0193
• DOI: 10.1002/hbm.20638

We conducted a slow event‐related fMRI experiment with naïve subjects' passively viewing yawn and various other control videos along with correlative behavioral testing. Specifically associated with the viewing of the contagious yawn was an area of activation in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex. These findings suggest a role for the prefrontal cortex in the processing of contagious yawning, while demonstrating a unique automaticity in the processing of contagious motor programs which take place independently of mirror neuron networks. Hum Brain Mapp 2009. © 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.