李鹏飞

Do you ever wonder why we yawn？ Do you always yawn when you see other people yawn？ A new study from Nottingham University in the UK has done research on this. Researchers found that yawning is contagious2. It is a powerful and unstoppable reaction. People automatically3 want to yawn when they see other people yawning. The researchers said people actually yawn more when they try to stop yawning. The researchers also found that some people have a much stronger urge4 to yawn than other people. Lead researcher Professor Stephen Jackson said that even reading about yawning could be enough to make people yawn. You might even want to yawn right now.

你有没有想过我们为什么打哈欠？看到别人打哈欠时，你总会打哈欠吗？英国诺丁汉大学对此进行了一项新研究。研究人员发现打哈欠是会传染的。这是一个强大且不可阻挡的反应。当人们看到别人打哈欠时，他们会不由自主地想打哈欠。研究人员说，当人们试图停止打哈欠时，实际上他们打得更多。研究人员还发现，有些人比其他人有更强烈的打哈欠的欲望。首席研究员斯蒂芬·杰克逊教授说，即便是读到关于打哈欠的东西时也足以让人打哈欠。你现在甚至就可能想打呵欠。

The researchers studied the reactions and brain activity of 36 adult volunteers. The volunteers looked at the videos of other people yawning. They then had two choices—either to stop themselves yawning or to allow themselves to do it. The volunteers were videoed as they yawned or tried not to yawn. The researchers also monitored the brain activity of the volunteers and checked how strong their feeling to want to yawn was. Jackson said understanding more about yawning will help to treat conditions such as dementia5， epilepsy6 and Tourettes7. He said， “We are looking for potential non-drug， personalized treatments...that might be effective in （changing） imbalances8 in the brain.”

研究人員对36名成年志愿者的反应和大脑活动进行了研究。志愿者们观看了其他人打哈欠的视频。他们有两种选择，要么阻止自己打哈欠，要么放任自己打哈欠。当他们打哈欠或试图不打哈欠时，志愿者们被录像了。研究人员还监测了志愿者的大脑活动，并检查他们想打哈欠的感觉有多强烈。杰克逊说，了解更多打哈欠的奥秘，能帮助治疗痴呆、癫痫和妥瑞氏症等疾病。他说：“我们正在寻找可能的非药物治疗法，个性化治疗……这也许能有效地（改变）大脑的不平衡状况。endprint