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‘Musical Chills’: How Your Favorite Songs Send Your Brain Into ‘Pleasure Overload’
Study Finds ^ | November 3, 2020

Posted on 11/04/2020 11:32:00 PM PST by nickcarraway

At some point or another, we all have experienced that joyful sensation when our favorite song comes on the radio. It can change your whole mood, especially when “that moment” in every song hits and sends chills down your spine. So what causes this hair-raising jolt to the system? French researchers say studies on the brain reveal many people go into pleasure overload when their favorite tunes start playing.

Researcher Thibault Chabin and a team at the Université de Bourgogne Franche-Comté examined the brains of 18 people who regularly get these chills when listening to music. After answering a questionnaire about how much pleasure they get from music, each volunteer received an EEG brain scan.

“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 in a media release.

What’s going on in your brain?

Study authors discovered specific electrical activity in the orbitofrontal cortex when music lovers experience a chill. This region is involved with emotional processing. There was also more activity in the supplementary motor area and the right temporal lobe, which handles auditory processing and musical appreciation on the right side of the brain.

All these regions work together to help humans process music, stimulate the brain’s reward centers, and release the “feel good” hormone dopamine. When you combine these reactions with the pleasurable anticipation of hearing your favorite chord strike in a song, the result is a tingly chill. This is a response that indicates greater connectivity in the cerebrum.

“The fact that we can measure this phenomenon with EEG brings opportunities for study in other contexts, in scenarios that are more natural and within groups,” Chabin adds. “This represents a good perspective for musical emotion research.”

‘An ancestral function for music’

The brain scan each participant underwent is a non-invasive procedure which reads the electrical currents caused by brain activity. Researchers placed sensors on each music lover’s scalp to measure theta activity. These low frequency electrical signals are a type of impulse linked to memory performance and musical appreciation.

“Contrary to heavy neuroimaging techniques such as PET scan or fMRI, classic EEG can be transported outside of the lab into naturalistic scenarios,” Chabin explains. “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.”

Study authors believe this inherited function tied to music may reveal the brain’s ability to predict future events. As humans wait for something they know is coming, the brain releases more dopamine.


TOPICS: Health/Medicine; Music/Entertainment; Science
KEYWORDS: brain; france; music
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No rickrolling.
1 posted on 11/04/2020 11:32:00 PM PST by nickcarraway
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To: nickcarraway

is a chill down the spine the same as a tingle down the leg?


2 posted on 11/04/2020 11:34:45 PM PST by SPDSHDW (The Biden's- Grifters on par with the Clintons and Bejing Barry. Joe's just had a Lower profile.)
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To: nickcarraway

Good Good Good Good Vibrations


3 posted on 11/04/2020 11:35:03 PM PST by P-Marlowe (Freep mail me if you want to be on my Fingerstyle Acoustic Guitar Ping List)
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To: nickcarraway

As we age, our musical library grows to a point where few songs bring bliss, but many bring fond memories.

When I was young, this bliss happened often. Now? Not so much.....


4 posted on 11/04/2020 11:35:52 PM PST by datura
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Why Rickroll when you can Barryroll. Mr. White’s song of (almost) the same name is far superior.
5 posted on 11/04/2020 11:42:19 PM PST by Olog-hai ("No Republican, no matter how liberal, is going to woo a Democratic vote." -- Ronald Reagan, 1960)
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To: SPDSHDW

Or a thrill up?


6 posted on 11/04/2020 11:42:45 PM PST by Olog-hai ("No Republican, no matter how liberal, is going to woo a Democratic vote." -- Ronald Reagan, 1960)
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To: datura

At 40 something it’s still there for me on occasion. I don’t listen to music much but every now and then I’ll come across a new tune or different take on an old one will get the dopamine going. I’ll tend to listen to whatever it might be regularly for a couple of weeks before it wears off.


7 posted on 11/04/2020 11:51:40 PM PST by kelly4c
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To: nickcarraway

- Simon Khorolskiy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgRWoYIVDRk

listen and decide.


8 posted on 11/04/2020 11:54:28 PM PST by Norski
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To: nickcarraway

Nominees:

Vissi d’arte
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gnqa94oeGfw

Soave sia il vento
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-wXtUfPI_E


9 posted on 11/05/2020 12:04:33 AM PST by BenLurkin (The above is not a statement of fact. It is either opinion or satire. Or both.)
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To: nickcarraway

At 61 I still get the bliss. There’s way too many songs that still do it for me, but this one gave me cold chills the first time I heard it a couple of years ago, and it still does every time I listen to it.

Bill Evans - Peace Piece

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pBCS2YjtIXY


10 posted on 11/05/2020 12:25:15 AM PST by TruBluKentuckian
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To: nickcarraway; blu
Your Skin Makes Me Cry

Check out the moves.

She Said I Am The One


11 posted on 11/05/2020 12:35:30 AM PST by bagster ("Even bad men love their mamas".)
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To: P-Marlowe

Fun fact “Good Vibrations” story...

Carol Kaye began her career as a jazz guitarist in local (LA) big bands. Her reputation grew and she played lead guitar on “La Bamba” for Richie Valens.

She had a small recording session playing bass guitar and her legendary career took flight as she became a member of the famous “Wrecking Crew”.

Her innovative bass is on Good Vibrations, Beat Goes On and hundreds if not thousands of tracks.

When her fellow Wrecking Crew member, Glen Campbell, recorded “Wichita Lineman”, he borrowed Carol’s 6-string bass for his solo.

And now you know, some of the rest of the story...


12 posted on 11/05/2020 12:37:47 AM PST by newfreep (The Communist/DNC VOTER FRAUD is Trump's ONLY opponent in 2020 election.)
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To: nickcarraway
an ancestral function for music

MC Hammer's "U Can't Touch This" is ancestral music. A tribe marching through the jungle banging their drums loudly is a warning to other tribes to run for their lives. Freshly sharpened weapons are required musical accompaniment.

13 posted on 11/05/2020 1:08:46 AM PST by Reeses (A journey of a thousand miles begins with a government pat down.)
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To: SPDSHDW

How about a quiver down my backbone? Shakes in the knee bones?


14 posted on 11/05/2020 1:21:54 AM PST by FreedomPoster (Islam delenda est)
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To: Reeses

Bagpipes.


15 posted on 11/05/2020 1:33:28 AM PST by Getready (Wisdom is more valuable than gold and diamonds, and harder to find.)
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To: Norski

AMAZING!!!

What a RUSH!

All Messianic scriptures, too. Beautiful!

Bookmarking it!


16 posted on 11/05/2020 3:02:14 AM PST by Westbrook
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To: Norski

Phenomenal! Thank you for posting and introducing me to this.


17 posted on 11/05/2020 3:31:26 AM PST by WhattheDickens? (Funny, I didnÂ’t think this was 1984Â…)
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To: Norski

I found Simon about a year ago. And this....https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGWOKT7Hfvs


18 posted on 11/05/2020 3:58:03 AM PST by taterjay
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To: taterjay

Yes.

With this artist, the temptation to binge must be resisted.


19 posted on 11/05/2020 4:11:18 AM PST by Norski
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To: Norski

Yes, but just one more......https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljk-lGf-xdg


20 posted on 11/05/2020 4:17:53 AM PST by taterjay
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