If you're somebody who has a physical reaction to music, you may be more special than you may realize.
We all have our favorite songs, artists, and albums - but how many of us can really say that we get goosebumps when hearing a certain singer's voice? Or perhaps you're somebody whose hair stands up on the back of your neck when you hear a certain guitar riff.
Well, a groundbreaking study published in Oxford Academic titled 'Brain Connectivity Reflects Human Aesthetic Responses to Music' delves into the fascinating phenomenon of experiencing chills and goosebumps while listening to music.
The study, led by former Harvard undergraduate Matthew Sachs, sheds light on the intricate workings of the human brain and its response to musical stimuli, Science Times reports.
And it turns out that those who experience a physical reaction to music appear to have a different brain structure than others.
According to Sachs' findings, individuals who experience chills and goosebumps when listening to music possess a denser volume of fibers connecting their auditory cortex to the areas of the brain responsible for processing emotions. This heightened connectivity allows for more efficient communication between these regions, resulting in a stronger emotional reaction to music, termed as musical stimuli.
"The idea being that more fibers and increased efficiency between two regions means that you have more efficient processing between them," Sachs explained, emphasizing the significance of this enhanced connectivity in shaping emotional responses to music.
To conduct the study, Sachs selected 20 individuals aged between the ages of 18 and 34. The group comprised of eight males and 12 females, with varying degrees of engagement with music.
Ten participants reported experiencing chills and tingling sensations when listening to specific songs, while the remaining ten did not report such responses.
Participants were asked to submit three to five songs that evoked strong emotional responses, with the chills group selecting songs that consistently induced goosebumps. The curated playlist included diverse tracks ranging from Bon Iver's 'Flume' to Coldplay's 'Strawberry Swing' and N'SYNC's 'This I Promise You'.
During the experiment, participants listened to excerpts from their chosen songs and rated their emotional responses on a scale from 0 to 10. Additionally, they were instructed to indicate moments of chills by pressing and holding the space bar.
Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI), a type of MRI-based technique, was employed to scan the brains of each participant, providing insights into neural connectivity patterns.
While the study primarily focuses on human responses to auditory stimuli, Sachs believes its implications extend beyond the realm of music. He suggests that these findings could inform philosophical and scientific inquiries into the evolutionary origins of human aesthetics, offering valuable insights into the universality of music and art across diverse cultures and historical contexts.
Alissa Der Sarkissian - a research assistant at USC’s Brain and Creativity Institute, based at the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences and a friend of Sachs - revealed that she is somebody who has an emotional connection to music.
"I sort of feel that my breathing is going with the song, my heart is beating slower and I’m feeling just more aware of the song — both the emotions of the song and my body’s response to it," she said, per Neuroscience News.
I can certainly relate. Every time I hear the Heartbeat theme song I come out in a cold sweat as it reminds me of having to go to bed on a Sunday evening before school.
Brain connectivity reflects human aesthetic responses to music by Matthew E. Sachs, Robert J. Ellis, Gottfried Schlaug, and Psyche Loui in Social and Affective Neuroscience. Published online March 10 2016 doi:10.1093/scan/nsw009