Photo Credit: Getty
Last
week, while listening to a medley of Filipino folk songs popular during
my teenager years in the Philippines in FaceBook, I noticed I had
goosebumps and a little chills while listening to the music. Besides
these songs, classical guitar music such as Concierto de Aranjuez also
aroused similar response in my brain. The reason why Concierto de
Aranjuez is one of my favorite piece of music is detailed in my blog as
follows:
https://theintellectualmigrants.blogspot.com/2022/05/music-appreciation-day-personal-stories.html
Today,
I found the following article by Maddy Shaw Roberts published on
classicfm.com explaining why some ( only 50% of us) experienced
goosebumps or chills when we listened to our favorite music. Here's the
article for your reading pleasure.
"Scientists say they have discovered why the melodies we love give us goosebumps.
A
team of French researchers found that when we listen to our favorite
music, the areas of the brain which handle emotion, movement, and
processing music and sound work together to create a surge in dopamine
levels – our ‘feel good’ chemical.
According to the study, our brains also try to anticipate what happens next in the song. And when we guess correctly, we get a reward.
Thibault
Chabin, a PhD student at the University Burgundy Franche-Comté who led
the study, said: “What is most intriguing is that music seems to have no
biological benefit to us. However, the implication of dopamine and of
the reward system in processing of musical pleasure suggests an
ancestral function for music.
“This
ancestral function may lie in the period of time we spend in
anticipation of the ‘chill-inducing’ part of the music. As we wait, our
brains are busy predicting the future and release dopamine.
“Evolutionarily speaking, being able to predict what will happen next is essential for survival.”
The team of researchers, whose study was published in the journal Frontiers in Neuroscience,
carried out the experiment on 18 music-lovers with a range of musical
abilities, who had all experienced chills when listening to music.
“Participants of our study were able to
precisely indicate ‘chill-producing’ moments in the songs, but most
musical chills occurred in many parts of the extracts and not only in
the predicted moments,” says Chabin.
Side
note, interestingly – or tragically, depending on your take! – only
about half of people get chills when listening to music. Those who do, are considered to have an “enhanced ability to experience intense emotions”.
For
Chabin’s study, the participants were hooked up to machines that record
electrical activity in the brain, and they were played 90-second clips
of their favorite songs.
While they were listening, the scientists watched what happened in their brains whenever the music gave them ‘chills’.
They spotted specific electrical activity in
the region responsible for emotional processing; the region involved in
movement control; and the area which handles music and sound
appreciation.
These regions work together
to process music and release the ‘feel-good’ hormone, dopamine. Combined
with the anticipation that triggers those pleasurable ‘reward systems’,
this produces the tingly chill participants felt while listening.
“This represents a good perspective for musical emotion research,” Chabin said.
“Musical
pleasure is a very interesting phenomenon that deserves to be
investigated further, in order to understand why music is rewarding and
unlock why music is essential in human lives.” For complete details read:
Meanwhile enjoy this photo from my album:
My Okra on a Planter Box- survived extreme heat and attack from squirrels and jay birds
