Yawning—its anatomy, chemistry, role, and pathological considerations

Publication date: Available online 29 November 2017
Source:Progress in Neurobiology
Author(s): Heinz Krestel, Claudio L. Bassetti, Olivier Walusinski
Yawning is a clinical sign of the activity of various supra- and infratentorial brain regions including the putative brainstem motor pattern, hypothalamic paraventricular nucleus, probably the insula and limbic structures that are interconnected via a fiber network. This interaction can be seen in analogy to other cerebral functions arising from a network or zone such as language. Within this network, yawning fulfills its function in a stereotype, reflex-like manner; a phylogenetically old function, preserved across species barriers, with the purpose of arousal, communication, and maybe other functions including respiration. Abnormal yawning with ≥3 yawns/15min. without obvious cause arises from lesions of brain areas involved in the yawning zone, its trajectories causing a disconnection syndrome, or from alteration of network activity by physical or metabolic etiologies including medication.



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