Curious Behavior
Yawning, Laughing, Hiccupping, and Beyond
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 19924844 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Robert R Provine (corresponding author) |
| Year | 2012 |
| Pages | 246 |
| Publication date | 2012-04-12 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | BOOK |
| Venue | Curious Behavior (SOURCE_BOOK) |
| Publisher | Harvard University Press (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.4159/harvard.9780674067226 |
| OpenAlex | W4244232801 |
| Open Library | OL25259806M |
| ISBN | 9780674067226 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 13 |
Robert Provine boldly goes where other scientists seldom tread—in search of hiccups, coughs, yawns, sneezes, and other lowly, undignified human behaviors. Upon investigation, these instinctive acts bear the imprint of our evolutionary origins and can be uniquely valuable tools for understanding how the human brain works and what makes us different from other species. Many activities showcased in Curious Behavior are contagious, but none surpasses yawning in this regard—just reading the word can make one succumb. Though we often take it as a sign of sleepiness or boredom, yawning holds clues to the development of our sociality and ability to empathize with others. Its inescapable transmission reminds us that we are sometimes unaware, neurologically programmed beasts of the herd. Other neglected behaviors yield similar revelations. Tickling, we learn, may be the key to programming personhood into robots. Coughing comes in musical, medical, and social varieties. Farting and belching have import for the evolution of human speech. And prenatal behavior is offered as the strangest exhibit of all, defying postnatal logic in every way. Our earthiest acts define Homo sapiens as much as language, bipedalism, tool use, and other more studied characteristics. As Provine guides us through peculiarities right under our noses, he beckons us to follow with self-experiments: tickling our own feet, keeping a log of when we laugh, and attempting to suppress yawns and sneezes. Such humble investigations provide fodder for grade school science projects as well as doctoral dissertations. Small Science can yield big rewards
Biology · Cognitive psychology · Cognitive science · Epistemology · Evolutionary biology · Homo sapiens · Linguistics · Personhood · Sociality · History · Language and cultural evolution · Philosophy · Psychological and Educational Research Studies · Psychology · Behavior · Crying · Eructation · Evolutionary psychology · Flatulence · Human behavior · Human biology · Neuropsychology · Sneezing · Vomiting
Treatment of Hiccup by Vagal Maneuvers
How Weeping Influences the Perception of Facial Expressions
The humorous standard
Laughter, bonding and biological evolution
The Power of Laughter
L’humour comme arme
Response to James Caron’s remarks
Yawning in the history of psychiatry
Yawn contagion in bonobos
On the embodied meaning of emotional responses to music
Yawning Is More Contagious in Pregnant Than Nulliparous Women
Why Only Humans Shed Emotional Tears
Red, Yellow, and Super-White Sclera
| Unique citing works | 13 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1 |
| Citation span | 2013 - 2026 (14) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 13 |