哈欠是如此具有傳染性，黑猩猩甚至因?yàn)榭戳舜蚬返穆嫞ㄈ缟蠄D）而受到“傳染”,。
研究人員試圖搞清,，動(dòng)物是否也會(huì)像人類一樣模仿自己,。因而他們播放了用計(jì)算機(jī)模擬的黑猩猩打哈欠的圖片,，旨在了解動(dòng)物是否也會(huì)模仿這些行為。之前的研究曾表明,，打哈欠在黑猩猩中是能夠“傳染”的,，這一點(diǎn)與人類一樣。這次他們發(fā)現(xiàn),，在黑猩猩中,，與興奮得大叫的錄像及小黑猩猩露齒大笑的照片相比，打哈欠的漫畫引發(fā)的模仿是前兩者的3倍,。研究人員日前在英國(guó)《皇家學(xué)會(huì)學(xué)報(bào)B》（Proceedings of the Royal Society B）上報(bào)告了這一發(fā)現(xiàn),。（生物谷Bioon.com）
生物谷推薦原始出處：
Proceedings of the Royal Society B September 9, 2009, doi: 10.1098/rspb.2009.1087
Computer animations stimulate contagious yawning in chimpanzees
Matthew W. Campbell*, J. Devyn Carter, Darby Proctor, Michelle L. Eisenberg and Frans B. M. de Waal
Living Links Center, Yerkes National Primate Research Center, Emory University, 2409 Taylor Lane, Lawrenceville, GA 30043, USA
People empathize with fictional displays of behaviour, including those of cartoons and computer animations, even though the stimuli are obviously artificial. However, the extent to which other animals also may respond empathetically to animations has yet to be determined. Animations provide a potentially useful tool for exploring non-human behaviour, cognition and empathy because computer-generated stimuli offer complete control over variables and the ability to program stimuli that could not be captured on video. Establishing computer animations as a viable tool requires that non-human subjects identify with and respond to animations in a way similar to the way they do to images of actual conspecifics. Contagious yawning has been linked to empathy and poses a good test of involuntary identification and motor mimicry. We presented 24 chimpanzees with three-dimensional computer-animated chimpanzees yawning or displaying control mouth movements. The apes yawned significantly more in response to the yawn animations than to the controls, implying identification with the animations. These results support the phenomenon of contagious yawning in chimpanzees and suggest an empathic response to animations. Understanding how chimpanzees connect with animations, to both empathize and imitate, may help us to understand how humans do the same.
