Sometimes music is just so good, it gives you goosebumps...
Frisson, which is French for shiver, is almost exactly that. Frisson is an "emotional shiver", most often experienced when music one is listening to violates expectations. (1) It's an absolutely amazing feeling, one that I've experienced since I was a child, but only in the last few years have I actually known what it is and what causes it.
This sensation is also called the Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response, or ASMR, and typically results in a tingling sensation starting in the head and "flowing" down through the spine to the limbs. It's a very euphoric feeling, and not everyone has this reaction to certain auditory stimuli. It's compared to auditory-tactile synesthesia, where certain sounds or words can cause physical sensations in specific parts of one's body. Frisson isn't something you can easily induce on purpose. It's an involuntary response, and doesn't last long, typically only a few seconds at a time.
An experiment in 1980 found that people will experience less of this sensation when administered a dose of naloxone, an opiate receptor antagonist, leading to the belief that frisson triggers opioid production in the brain, causing the euphoric feeling. (2)
For me, frisson hits when the melody and harmony of a song line up in a way that surprises me. My most common source of it for the past five years or so has been dubstep. There's just something about a trippy video game tune paired with the drama of an epic bass drop.
***Do you experience frisson? What causes the most intense reaction? Let's talk about it! ***
Sources:
- https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frisson
- https://musiccog.ohio-state.edu/Music838/glossary.html#ecstatic%20listening
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