Cai Jianya said in the music program that after listening to a very good singer, goosebumps all rose. Later, other guests knew that the songs that could make her goosebumps were her favorite. So, how does music relate to gooseflesh?
First of all, what is gooseflesh?
On our skin, there are small muscles that connect the hair follicles. These muscles are called limousines. When the limousine muscle contracts, we will see the hair on the skin standing up, showing one by one gooseflesh.
Almost all hairy mammals have goose bumps. On the one hand, it's to keep out the cold - bristling hair can limit the flow of air, creating a layer of insulation on the skin's surface. Animals, on the other hand, erect their hair in the face of threats. At this time, goosebumps produce a 'blow up' effect that makes the animal look bigger.
A cat that's afraid of 'hair blasting' is a common phenomenon among mammals.
For us humans, the need to protect ourselves from the cold through hair and make ourselves appear big is gone, but the system remains in our bodies. And it's linked to a richer emotional response. There are many reasons for a person to get goosebumps: sometimes it's a disgusting picture, sometimes it's a lover's caress, sometimes it's a shocking natural landscape, art works, sometimes it even needs a little brain activity. Goosebumps related to music appreciation are called 'frisson', we can call them 'aesthetic chill'.
Regardless of the inducement, every gooseflesh has the same physiological mechanism: strong arousal of sympathetic nervous system. In this state, many changes occur in the body, including increased heart rate and respiration, increased skin electrical response, and decreased body temperature and pulse amplitude. Through instrument testing, researchers can accurately record goose bumps.
In gooseflesh, the indexes of GSR, temp, heart rate, BVP, and respiration all changed dramatically. It also provides convenience for research and measurement.
'orgasm' on the skin, pleasure in the brain
In addition to the formal name, there's another unexpected and vivid saying of "goosebumps when listening to music" - skin orgasm. For fear of misunderstanding, the term "skin orgasm" has not been widely accepted by researchers.
It's not a real orgasm, but it's a very pleasant reaction. It was found that the change of physiological index of gooseflesh would be intensified with the increase of music pleasure score, and reached the peak when the phenomenon of frisson appeared.
This pleasure does not stop at the surface of the skin. When we play gooseflesh to enjoy music, the brain is also an active scene. In 2001, zatorre's team, a professor at McGill University in Canada, completed a classic study. In the study, the subjects chose to listen to a song that could make them produce frisson reaction, and received positron emission computed tomography (PET). The results showed that when the skin electricity and other physiological indicators showed that frisson occurred, the local blood flow in several brain areas of the subjects had significant changes, the most noticeable one was the increase of ventral striatum blood flow.
The ventral striatum, perhaps a strange name, is an important part of the brain's reward system. Here is a structure called nucleus accumbens, which is related to almost all the pleasant experiences. Whether it's a feast on the table or a happy couple in the bedroom, it can promote the release of dopamine from the nucleus accumbens. The drug that can't be extricated is also related to it. Further research provides clearer evidence that, when frisson occurs, it also releases the pleasure dopamine.
Dopamine not only enables us to enjoy the present, but also helps the brain remember the pleasant experience brought by specific music segments. Therefore, when the same segment rings again, we begin to expect the emotional burst of that moment, which will further promote the generation of pleasure. From this point of view, it is appropriate to call frisson "skin orgasm".
How does' pleasant chill 'relate to music?
Why are concerts so enjoyable and associated with goosebumps? Scientists are still looking for specific mechanisms behind this.
Music is not a necessity for survival and reproduction, nor is it a chemical that can act directly on the body, but its principle of causing pleasure is almost the same. Researchers speculate that with the complexity of human brain, there is a certain relationship between the ancient reward system related to survival and those brain regions responsible for high-level cognitive activities, which makes the low-level reflex such as gooseflesh become a part of aesthetic experience such as music.
The above conjecture has been preliminarily verified. In 2013, an article published in the journal Science found that when people listen to some music with high personal evaluation, the nucleus accumbens, which is responsible for providing pleasure, has a strong functional connection with the auditory cortex, which is responsible for music perception.
So why does the brain reward music?
One theory is that some music clips can cause strong emotional reactions because they can break people's expectations. For example, in the climax of many pieces of music, there will be new melody, harmony and other different ways of expression, or the sound intensity will suddenly increase, and the most shocking part is often these unexpected parts. Therefore, this view holds that the pleasure produced by music actually encourages us to detect and distinguish new sounds, which is beneficial to the survival of human ancestors.
Another theory gives music more social functions. According to the earliest instruments found, the birth of music can be traced back at least 35000 years ago. At that time, the living environment of human beings was very harsh, and music could make people forget the hardships of life for a while and obtain a moment of peace in mind. The experience of playing together or listening to music can also enhance the group's cohesion (think of the scene where people clap their hands and beat rhythm together involuntarily when listening to songs). Like words, music is not the product of simple biological evolution, but a kind of 'technology' created by human brain. While people use music to express their emotions, music also affects the way people perceive the world.
Left: flutes made of animal bones found in Germany, with a history of 35000 years and 20000 years respectively; right: murals found in caves in southwest France, may be the first paintings depicting musical instrument playing scenes.
Not everyone loves music
The pleasure and chill brought by music are very common, but not everyone can realize the feeling. Some people even lack the "music pleasure" completely.
According to a paper published in current biology in 2014, people who lack musical pleasure account for 2% of the population. These people can rationally analyze the emotion that the music wants to express, but they can't resonate; but when they play a gambling game that has nothing to do with music, they, like other subjects, will have emotional ups and downs because of winning or losing. According to the author: 'they still love money, but they just don't love music. '
The difference of music pleasure is affected by various factors. For example, music training can strengthen the connection between striatum and cortex. Accordingly, music majors are more likely to produce frisson than medical students. Other behavioral studies have found a correlation between personality and musical pleasure. Among them, a personality trait called 'open to experience' is most relevant to the frisson experience. People with such personality traits are often imaginative, willing to seek new experiences, and willing to dig deep into their own feelings. People with strong experience and openness will not enter the right ear and leave the left ear when listening to music, but will mobilize a variety of cognitive functions to immerse themselves in it, so that they are more likely to have a pleasant 'aesthetic chill'.
If you want to know whether you are sensitive to music pleasure, you can try to fill out the 'Barcelona music reward questionnaire' which has been used in many studies (link: http://brainvitge.org/z_oldsite/bmrq.php). The questionnaire will give a comprehensive score on your ability to get awards from music (that is, the music reward column at the bottom of the page). If the score is more than 60, it means that you are very susceptible to music; if the score is less than 40, it means that you may be more difficult to enjoy music than most people.
Now, there are still many mysteries behind this experience. But to be sure, it's a wonderful reward that the brain gives us.
Although there is no gooseflesh because of the good music, the joy of the good music mind God meeting can not be expressed in words.