New yawning tool for interviewers

Yawning is ? or at least could be ? the basis of a new conceptual tool for anyone who conducts job interviews. For certain jobs, interviewers want to know whether an applicant does or does not have so-called “autistic” qualities. These qualities presumably let a person focus intently on a particular task. Depending on the job, such focus is either a very good or a very bad thing.

The key is presented (though without mentioning its use in job interviewing) in the September 07, 2007 issue of the British Psychological Society’s blog. There a headline says:

Children with autism are immune to contagious yawning

The study described there is “Absence of contagious yawning in children with autism spectrum disorder,” Atsushi Senju, et al., Biology Letters, DOI 10.1098/rsbl.2007.0337, August 14, 2007. Dr. Senju is based at the University of London.

The study refers to this condition as an ?impairment in contagious yawning.”