Yawning Together

Which of these is the best summary of the selection?

• Scientists have discovered one possible reason humans yawn. Studies indicate that we yawn to cool our brains. This cooling process is important because a cool brain functions more efficiently. However, this explanation is too simplistic to serve as the definitive answer

• Research has shown that yawning has been observed in many species of vertebrates. What is not clear is why this is so or what purpose yawning serves. While some researchers indicate yawning occurs to cool the brain, others dispute this hypothesis because of differences between humans and animals.

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  1. Yawning is contagious. When humans, or even dogs, see someone yawn, they often yawn, too. Studies have found, however, that when someone just pretends to yawn—moving his or her mouth but without making any of the gestures—people don’t yawn in response. While more studies may be needed to explain this phenomenon, yawning isn’t a very big problem.

• Many species yawn, but the purpose served by yawning is still unknown. It is also unclear why yawning seems to be contagious. Researchers have offered various theories, such as yawning serves the purpose of cooling the brain or body or expressing empathy or mimicry. However, further studies are needed before yawning can be fully understood.

What is the primary purpose of the article?

• To summarize research on contagious

  yawning

• To explain why yawning is healthful for

  people and animals

• To describe how human yawning differs

  from dog yawning

• To suggest that scientists will never fully

  understand why people yawn

The author uses an aside in paragraph 3 to --

• supply additional information

• provide some humor

• criticize public speakers

• give an example

What’s the purpose of the boxed information

about yawning at the end of the article?

• To provide possible explanation for

  why people yawn

• To amuse the reader with common

  myths about yawning

• To provide facts about yawning to

  supplement information given in the article

• To suggest that scientists are close to

  understanding the cause of yawning

Read this sentence from paragraph 7.

If puppies don’t copy yawns the way human babies do, it suggests that dogs learn to mimic human yawns later in life.

Which word from the sentence best helps the reader understand the meaning of the word mimic?

Enter the correct answer in the box. 

Which line suggests that seeing someone else yawn is not the only way to experience contagious yawning?

• As I did the research for this column, I noticed that nearly every article about yawning pointed out that just reading the article itself could make you yawn.

• Goldman points out that yawning has been observed in many species of vertebrates, including dogs, cats, chimpanzees, and birds.

• At extremely high temperatures, yawning again decreased, perhaps because yawns don’t help when the temperature is too warm.

• Humans who are likely to be more empathetic also exhibit more contagious yawning, so maybe yawning is contagious between humans and dogs for similar reasons.

Why does the author say that yawning “isn’t a very big problem”?

• To explain why there has been little research done on yawning

• To suggest that studying yawning would be a waste of resources

• To argue the importance of studying the causes of yawning

• To demonstrate that all studies of yawning have reached the same conclusion