Some People Get ‘Skin Orgasms’ From Listening to Music

Who says you need a partner in order to get a thrill? (Photo: Getty Images)

Have you ever heard a powerful piece of music that literally sent chills down your spine? (Whitney Houston ballads and the theme from Star Wars immediately come to mind.) Well, you weren’t imagining anything — neuroscientists state that pleasurable songs can elicit a physiological response that not only makes us feel alive on the inside, but it can also make our skin tingle.

The reaction is called musical “frisson,” which is defined by Merriam-Webster’s dictionary as “a brief moment of emotional excitement.” Some people find such satisfaction from this quick state of arousal that there’s a Reddit dedicated to the tunes that may bring about the lovin’ skin feeling.

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“Goosebumps, or piloerection, occur when the tiny muscles located at the base of each hair follicle — known as arrector pili muscles — contract, causing the hair to become erect,” Kally Papantoniou, MD, a board-certified dermatologist at the Advanced Dermatology Center for Laser and Cosmetic Surgery in New York and a clinical instructor at Mount Sinai Dermatology, tells Yahoo Beauty.

“Piloerection is a reflex triggered by the sympathetic nervous system, and can be triggered by flight-or-fight response, intense emotions, or from medications.”
She points to a 2013 study conducted by researchers from McGill University, which uncovered that listening to music creates an emotional response that takes place in the brain.

“It causes frisson because it increases the connectivity between the auditory and reward-processing centers in the brain, and corresponds to changes in blood flow within those areas of the brain,” continues Dr. Papantoniou. “It’s similar to those seen in reaction to other positive stimuli, such as sex, drugs, or food, which can induce the release of dopamine,” aka the feel-good chemical, a neurotransmitter that helps control the brain’s reward and pleasure centers.

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One of the study’s authors explained that this activity explains why taste in music varies from person to person, given that every individual “has their own uniquely shaped auditory cortex, which is formed based on all the sounds and music heard throughout our lives.”

But not everyone experiences frisson. A recent article posted on The Conversation.com states that anywhere between 55 to 86 percent of people have experienced this rush, and that personality traits may play a role in one’s ability to shudder at just the right notes.

“It is interesting that a musical stimulus would lead to piloerection, and the clear physiology is still being researched,” concludes Dr. Papantoniou.

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