People who get goosebumps from music have different brains (2017) | Hacker News Reader

People who get goosebumps from music have different brains (2017)

indy100.com

90 pointschha66 comments

This is an interesting topic to me. I for sure get actual goosebumps from moments in my favorite songs.

But come on man... this source is absolute garbage. It's not really a readable article. Just a few sentences thrown together, in a very click-baity looking website.

Here is an article, with a research paper attached. https://neurosciencenews.com/music-chills-neuroscience-6167/ https://academic.oup.com/scan/article/11/6/884/2223400

And another better article https://scroll.in/article/808773/why-do-only-some-people-get...

> Plus these sensations can also be associated with memories linked to a certain song, which cannot be controlled in a laboratory setting.

First band I thought about after reading this sentence is Boards of Canada. In an article published last year [1] they explain how music by the group is able to inject memories of childhood and foresee the notion of the lost future.

I personally get goosebumps in almost every song by this band.

[1] https://pitchfork.com/features/article/why-boards-of-canadas...

Agree. Boards of Canada are easily on my top 10 of best bands ever. Top of the list is Mazzy Star, the absolute best of goose bump dream pop.

it took me a long time to get into BoC but the strange thing is that I never get sick of them. there are very few bands that do that. (Mogwai does that too or within the hibhop genre that would be The Roots, or Mos Def).

It seems that the quicker I like a band/song the quicker I also get sick of it. And music that I have to get used to with passive listening - e.g. have them playing in the background but not when running or driving then the longer I like them. Some artists and albums have literally stayed with me for decades. (e.g. The Roots Illadelphia Halflife or Things Fall Apart acompanied me when my kids were born, when I got my dog, when my dog died, when I got married, when my kids left for university, ...). Not every band is around that long or is able to adapt its music style to remain relevant (for my taste) ...

I remember the times when I went to buy music at record stores and there was no way of just purchasing the top 3 tracks from an album and skip the rest. You either bought the whole album or you got a single but there was nothing in between. Having shelled out the money I then wanted to make an effort to also give those songs "a chance" that didn't immediately stick. And it was always those more complex tunes that I ended up liking the most ...

Radiohead's discography has been this for me with almost every album. The most jarring changes were between The Bends, OK Computer, and Kid A: each time I hated their 'new sound' at first and then eventually they became one of those albums that I just default to when I can't decide what else I might want to listen to.

The closest analogue in movies, I suppose, are the Coen Brothers. I wish there was a word for the feeling of listening to/watching/reading something, disliking it, but knowing that you'll probably end up loving it.

huge radiohead fan here. I also think they have undergone a massive transformation in style. as a fan it's challenging, but rewarding to follow them. As you described your struggle with their constant changing I'm currently struggling with their latest album. I'll probably end up listening to it every day in a year or 2. It kind of "grows on you", doesn't it? Like a pair of shoes that don't fit yet and after a time they are your favorite pair.

There's tons of amazing dream-pop/shoegaze. Yo La Tengo, Cocteau Twins, Pity Sex, etc. etc. etc.

Slowdive!

Hahaha! So damn funny you said that. Right after I commented, I realized, huh, I forgot Slowdive and didn't bother editing it.

It's so good to see them back together. I've seen them in Boston and Austin TX and can't wait to see them again... such an incredible show...

Their new album is great but to me, you can't beat Souvlaki.

I also own some of Rachel Goswell's glassware. Hahaha!

I saw them in Sweden a few years back right at their reunion, but while I still listen to a lot of shoegaze I think I might prefer Neil Halsteads solo stuff more, and the old Mojave 3 stuff, even if the genres are very different. Either way it's apparent he can make great music.

Even though I'm a grumpy 30 something, I do appreciate the last decade's revival of shoegaze. There's a lot of great new stuff. Everything from the more popular DIIV, Wild Nothing, Beach House, Beach Fossils (theme?) to more obscure stuff like LAUNDER, Scuba Dvala, Ringo Deathstarr, Blouse, Lowtide, JAWS, the Bilinda Butchers (a bit on the nose), etc.

That's fair. I really enjoy Neil's solo stuff too, and of course Mojave 3.

Ringo Deathstarr is super fun. Would love to see them live. The 'revival' has definitely brought along some solid bands.

And as for the mid-90s emo revival, I really like Evan Weiss' projects, namely Into It. Over It but he has a ton more (Pet Symmetry, etc.).

There's a lot of great newer music if you know where to look.

Thank you for this. Listening now. Really good stuff. This is the kind of electronic music that is right up my alley. Straddles the line between ambient and lyrical, abstract and structured. Seems like it would also be really great to use as work music, especially for coding.

there is a project called Music for Programming [1] and that's exactly how I found out about BoC.

[1] https://musicforprogramming.net (track #4 min. 0:14:45)

As a huge boc fan, I legitimately got goosebumps reading this comment.

I think this kind of article appeals to egos, not science.

But we're all OK with that.

There's nothing wrong with upvoting a fun little article that gives you goosebumps every now and again.

If this article gives you goosebumps see our next article about how that makes you special.

This comment gave me goosebumps.

Doesn't everyone get this sensation?

Apparently not.

Roughly estimating from conversations I have had about this with people over the years, I'd say most people do. Perhaps the headline should have been;

>If music doesn't give you goosebumps, your brain might be special

edit - however, then the word 'special' tends to flip to its contranym, so they probably wouldn't want to run with that.

>Roughly estimating from conversations I have had about this with people over the years, I'd say most people do.

Literal goosebumps or figure of speech? I don't think most people get literal goosebumps from music...

I get literal goosebumps from music. Not a figure of speech in the slightest.

Sure, I don't doubt people do. I doubt the parent's estimate that "most people" do.

I know it is self selecting, but from the responses here it seems to be most people.

The overall feeling is often called "frisson", and some people describe it as the feeling when you're on a swingset and it hits its peak and starts to come back down. I get literal goosebumps from some music, and some movies too, but that's probably just triggered by the soundtrack. Blade Runner 2049 and Annihilation always do it even though I've seen them almost a dozen times each.

The sound of The Shimmer from the trailer and in the movie (See here https://youtu.be/89OP78l9oF0?t=54) makes my skin shiver every time I hear it. Also I loved Annihilation both in book and movie form. Have you seen its spiritual predecessor, Roadside Picnic?

No! I've never heard of that film. I'll have to watch it ASAP, thanks for the rec!

For me it's the Charge of the Rohirrim at the battle of the Pelennor fields when Theoden makes his speech to his riders:

"Arise, arise, Riders of Théoden! spear shall be shaken, shield shall be splintered, a sword-day, a red day, ere the sun rises! Ride now, ride now, ride! Ride for ruin and the world's ending! Death! Death! Death! Forth Eorlingas!"

Just typing that gave me goosebumps.

Possibly -- but who is going to share the article when it tells them they're not special?

Of a sample of 20 people, 10 participants self-reported experiencing goosebumps when listening to music, 10 didn't; the DTI brain machine finds they have different connectivity between certain regions of the brain.

Who gets to be _the special_ out of two sets with an equal number of members? :)

I suspect the sample was chosen to get two equal sets, as for an experiment like this you want to maximise the data from the two groups, as you are not trying to measure the incidence of the effect but rather the differences from the effect.

Told my wife a few years ago that I do get goosebumps and she wouldn't believe me, so I know of at least one person who doesn't

I don't.

I think many people understand this is as a figure of speech, not as literal goosebumps.

edit: Yes, some people get literal goosebumps! Just highlighting there are two groups here.

I get literal goosebumps for certain songs, and it is kind of all over the place (music wise). If someone puts on Adele's Rolling in the Deep, the part where she belts out in the chorus, I always get physical goosebumps.

I never realized not everyone can do this, but I also can wiggle my ears, another useless genetic trait.

They are literal for me. Happens infrequently and only certain types of songs.

yes literally, sometimes coupled with an overwhelming rush of emotions that makes my eyes well up (doesn't have to be in a sad way, and depends on the situation and music).

I was already coming here to comment (even before you said this) on how this seems to rhyme with picturing something in your mind's eye, which I always grokked as being figurative speech.

I realized through my relationship with my partner and later a coworker that some people picture things with extraordinary acuity (so much so that I can trigger revolt or disgust by just describing something), but I thought they were the special ones. It wasn't until I read about Derek Parfit having aphantasia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aphantasia) that I realized I was sitting somewhere out in the long tail of human experience.

This is similar to a conversation I had with my wife about inner dialog. I had always considered that one's inner dialog was literally conscious thought until I learned that some don't have that at all.

While I have the conscious ability to create both images and entire 3d animated systems in my head, it also comes with my subconscious flashing images at me, from animal forms through to mandalas (sometimes combined with buzzing noises), having extremely intrusive visual memories that can be triggered unexpectedly off a host of random things, and experiencing fireworks whenever I have a migraine. I think I might be sitting in a tail somewhere too. Hi, how's your tail doing? This one is very brightly coloured but tends to move around a lot.

There are two axes here! Phantasia does not imply involuntary imagining! I don't imagine/picture involuntarily, and for many many years I didn't understand that most people do involuntarily imagine what they hear. Forbidden-while-eating topics are no longer a mystery to me.

Interesting.

My own mental model (sigh...) is that these are all roughly related to (if not literal types of) the crossover/cross-polination (sigh...) that manifests in synesthesia.

I think synesthesia is definitionally involuntary, but your statement did make me go search "voluntary synesthesia", though I'm not done reading results yet.

I would guess it's a lot harder to identify people who can electively conjure anything akin to what synesthetes experience. It probably feels less distressing or noteworthy, happens less often, and would be a lot harder to study...

I bet most get that feeling of intense excitement, but only few get actual, legit goosebumps.

I just thought this was normal.

Everyone's special :)

I've never once gotten goosebumps from music (Or movies or really anything other than the temperature).

I don't think I have ever experienced this. I do however experience something like the opposite: music I don't like can evoke anything from a mild sense of dread to an almost caged-animal level of irritation - a very physical level of tension I feel all over. Especially horrid are the highly repetitive songs with vapid lyrics which inevitably go on to punish me by becoming an ear-worm infection for hours on end leaving me feeling exhausted. It makes the day seem unendurably long.

I am a bit of an odd duck when it comes to music though. I often go for weeks and weeks without actively seeking out any music at all. Not that I don't like music, I do, but I don't regularly experience that need for it that so many others seem to have. But, when I am programming and need to go into hyper-focus mode, I often find fast-paced Metal is the ticket, energizing and stimulating.

Some IDM tunes gave me shivers in the past, like Bola or Squarepusher. And most noticably certain letter styles. Berlin graffiti from the late 90s, early 00s. DRM/BAD crews.

Same here, it's definitely not just music.

Edit: Thanks for giving me something new to listen to today :)

Musical goosebumps are also called frisson: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frisson

I hate to link a sub, but there's a lot of material shared for invoking frisson:

https://www.reddit.com/r/frisson/

I may be even more "special" (in the article's own words) since I can give myself goosebumps at will. It's kinda like flexing a muscle, just on the back of my head.

Funnily, I searched for "I can give myself goosebumps" for the first time just a few days ago, and this[0] article popped out. Same website, identical title. (Then I also searched for "music gives me goosebumps" and got the one posted here.)

[0]: https://www.indy100.com/article/if-you-can-give-yourself-goo...

Interesting, I've always taken being able to do it for granted.

Usually do it without thinking when I'm very engaged in something and have an intense thought.

Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan's live recordings can have that affect on me. I wonder if it's similar for non-Urdu/Punjabi speakers:

https://youtu.be/xxjKw7HZQEI

I don’t understand most of the words in his qawwalis but yes. His singing was out of this world. Like at the WOMAD festival in 1988: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AEIKmwVpOhQ

I was wondering if this wasn't the same effect that ASMR exploits, but:

> ASMR aficionados make a distinction between ASMR and frisson, the goosebumps and tingles that can be produced by an amazing piece of music.

TIL! (I've never really tried ASMR, but I have a few songs that semi-reliably trigger this "frisson".)

I listen to music all day while working that frequently triggers frisson. However, I cannot stand ASMR, especially bodily noises including mouth stuff like talking and lip smacking. That might just be Misophonia (TIL) though.

I am the same. I have an irrational hatred of those wet-mouth whisper videos, it makes my skin crawl but not in the same way as this article describes.

It doesn't have to do with being special it's just that music is touching something very deep inside you. It depends both on the intensity of the music and receptivity of the listener and can be developed.

Strangely enough, music can do this. But I can also do it just with a thought as well. It takes about 30 seconds for the goosebumps to be visible

Not sure why. I just can.

The Rite of Spring.

Try not to riot.

https://youtu.be/rP42C-4zL3w

Music can do funny things to people.

I get goosebumps by ideas. Reading this thread gave me goosebumps - although I'll admit I consciously focused on helping it along.

I don’t get frisson from music, but I do when I learn a new topic. Do others not get that?

I sometimes get goosebumps before the song even starts in anticipation of the song, just thinking of how it sounds.

I love music very much.

Haha.

Also, I don’t remember if this is against HN protocol, but almost every comment of yours is marked dead for the past 3 months except for like 4.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com