It is well known, and scientifically documented, that yawning is contagious. When we see someone else yawn, or even think about someone yawning, we are very likely to yawn ourselves. (In fact, we predict that you are starting to want to yawn right now.)

In a study of yawning contagion, researchers showed participants one of several pictures, including a picture of a man yawning, the same man smiling, a yawning man with his mouth covered, or a yawning man with his eyes obscured (Provine et al.

1989). Participants yawned much more often when shown the yawner than the smiler, but surprisingly an identical number also yawned when shown the picture with the mouth obscured. This suggests that something besides the mouth is an important trigger. What about the eyes? Seventeen of 30 participants yawned when confronted with a picture of a yawning man, while 11 of 30 independent participants yawned when shown a picture of a yawning man with his eyes covered. Is there evidence in these data that covering the yawning man’s eyes in an image changes the occurrence of contagious yawns?