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Warum gähnen wir ?
 
Fetal yawning assessed by 3D and 4D sonography
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mystery of yawning 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

mise à jour du
8 juin 2014
Aviat Space Environ Med
2014;85:658-61
 
Scholarpedia
Yawning as a behavioral marker of mild motion sickness and sopite syndrome 

Matsangas P, McCauley ME.

Department of Operations Research, Naval Postgraduate School,
Monterey, CA. USA

Ergology and yawning

Chat-logomini

 
INTRODUCTION:
Severe motion sickness is easily identifiable with sufferers showing obvious behavioral signs, including emesis (vomiting). Mild motion sickness and sopite syndrome lack such clear and objective behavioral markers. We postulate that yawning may have the potential to be used in operational settings as such a marker. This study assesses the utility of yawning as a behavioral marker for the identification of soporific effects by investigating the association between yawning and mild motion sickness/sopite syndrome in a controlled environment.
 
METHODS:
Using a randomized motion-counterbalanced design, we collected yawning and motion sickness data from 39 healthy individuals (34 men and 5 women, ages 27-59 yr) in static and motion conditions. Each individual participated in two 1-h sessions. Each session consisted of six 10-min blocks. Subjects performed a multitasking battery on a head mounted display while seated on the moving platform. The occurrence and severity of symptoms were assessed with the Motion Sickness Assessment Questionnaire (MSAQ).
 
RESULTS:
Yawning occurred predominantly in the motion condition. All yawners in motion (N = 5) were symptomatic. Compared to nonyawners (MSAQ indices: Total = 14.0, Sopite = 15.0), subjects who yawned in motion demonstrated increased severity of motion sickness and soporific symptoms (MSAQ indices: Total = 17.2, Sopite = 22.4), and reduced multitasking cognitive performance (Composite score: nonyawners = 1348; yawners = 1145).
 
DISCUSSION:
These results provide evidence that yawning may be a viable behavioral marker to recognize the onset of soporific effects and their concomitant reduction in cognitive performance.
Sopite syndrome: a sometimes sole manifestation of motion sickness Graybiel A, Knepton J Aviat Space Environ Med 1976 47; 8; 873-82

Severe motion sickness is easily identifi able. People under signifi cant malaise stop working, vomit or show signs of, such as pallor. The problem is that mild motion sickness and sopite syndrome do not demonstrate such clear and observable behavioral markers. We postulate that yawning may have the potential to be used as such a marker. Yawning is an involuntary and stereotyped behavior consisting of three phases, a long inspiration phase, the mouth ' s wide opening, and the fi nal slow expiration ( 2 ). Yawning occurrence demonstrates an underlying circadian rhythmicity ( 1 ), and has been associated with sleepiness, drowsiness, and boredom ( 2 ). Research supports the hypothesis that yawning is associated with transitions in arousal levels ( 1 ). It appears that yawning is involved in maintenance of arousal, yet yawning frequency seems to be unrelated to prior sleep amount ( 1 ). Johnson and Jongkees [as cited in Baenninger ( 1 )] suggested that yawning may be associated with arousal by regulating cerebral blood fl ow, and noted that the deafmutes with congenitally incomplete labyrinths are immune to yawning.
 
It has long been known that yawning is a common symptom associated with motion sickness, and is considered among the typical symptoms of sopite syndrome ( 8 ). The term " sopite syndrome " describes a symptom-complex centering on drowsiness and lethargy related to motion sickness ( 8 ). Symptoms associated with drowsiness are yawning, disinterest and disinclination to work, lack of participation in group activities, mood changes, sleep disturbances, and signs of mental depression.
 
The literature on motion sickness does not seem to contain any systematic efforts focusing on yawning per se. In general, earlier research does not extend beyond using yawning as one more symptom toward assessing motion sickness severity [for example, Bos et al. ( 3 )]. Furthermore, existing research is merely based on postsession self-reports of yawning as part of questionnaires reporting motion sickness symptoms [for example, Joseph and Griffi n ( 10 )].
 
Our study is triggered by the operational consequences of soporifi c effects, which, we hypothesize, can be even greater than the more severe levels of motion sickness. The problem with mild motion sickness and sopite syndrome is that they are not easily distinguishable as problems concerning the person ' s well-being or their ability to perform assigned tasks. A mild form of motion sickness includes an uneasy feeling with a certain amount of lack of interest in the task being done ( 14 ). This phase is not characterized by any visible signs and people may not be aware of their state ( 11 , 14 ). Therefore, a systematic approach to soporifi c effects must include the investigation of ways to identify this phenomenon.
 
Developing measures can be the fi rst step to countering the effect of sopite syndrome in the operational environment ( 11 , 12 ). For these reasons, this study has the objective to investigate the utility of yawning as a behavioral marker in the identifi cation of soporifi c effects.
 
DISCUSSION
 
In this experiment, yawning was associated with the existence of the nauseogenic motion stimulus. Compared to non-yawners, individuals who yawned in motion were more likely to suffer from mild motion sickness and soporifi c symptoms and they demonstrated reduced multitasking cognitive performance. What makes these results more interesting is the limited severity of the nauseogenic motion. Consequently, the average severity of motion sickness in our study was mild. However, the experimental methodology did not provide the opportunity to evaluate the temporal distribution of yawning versus soporifi c symptoms, i.e., to assess whether yawning may be considered as a prodromal response to sopite syndrome or performance deterioration. The time development of symptoms seemed to coincide with performance deterioration because our method was not focused on this assessment. This study has a number of constraints that limit its external validity. These caveats should be considered when interpreting the generalizability of the results. First, the number of yawning individuals was small ( N 5 5). The second point of concern is the method we used to identify yawns, which was based on the researcher observing and recording the yawns. Although this approach is better than subject ' s self-reports obtained after the data collection session, it is an evaluation subject to the researcher ' s bias and error in observations. Future efforts should probably incorporate a 2-reseacher approach ( 4 ).
 
A comment should also be focused on the association between yawning and chronotype. Our results suggest the confounding effect of chronotype on yawning occurrence in nauseogenic motion conditions. This fi nding is in congruence with existing research showing that yawning frequency is affected by differences in sleepwake or sleepiness rhythms between extreme chronotypes, with evening types yawning more frequently during morning ( 15 ). Based on their fi ndings, the researchers concluded that the temporal distribution of yawning frequency differs between chronotypes, supporting the hypothesis that differences in sleep-wake rhythm affect yawning. However, the small number of yawning subjects in our study does not constitute a solid base for our chronotype-related results. Future efforts should investigate further the interaction of motion sickness and chronotype on the development of yawning.
 
The difference in occurrence of yawns between individuals with soporifi c and mild motion sickness symptoms compared to asymptomatic individuals under the same motion conditions provides evidence that yawning may be a viable behavioral marker of sopite syndrome. The operational problem with mild motion sickness and sopite syndrome is that both are not easily distinguishable as problems because they are not characterized by any visible signs, with people not being aware of their actual state. From an operational perspective, it would be useful if yawning could serve as a behavioral marker to recognize the onset of soporifi c effects and their concomitant reduction in cognitive performance.
 
This work is preliminary, based on a small sample size, and leaves many questions unanswered. A systematic investigation regarding these issues is needed to further elucidate the operational utility of yawning as a behavioral marker for sopite syndrome.