Last Word is 快猫短视频鈥檚 long-running series in which readers give scientific answers to each other鈥檚 questions, ranging from the minutiae of everyday life to absurd astronomical hypotheticals. To answer a question or ask a new one, email lastword@newscientist.com
Why do some pieces of music give us goosebumps? Is it indicative of particular personal traits?
Advertisement
Hillary Shaw
Newport, Shropshire, UK
Some people get goosebumps from natural noises conveying danger, which are often high-pitched and discordant. These include the shriek of an angry animal, the creak of a tree branch about to fall and the howling of the wind. If you feed birds in the garden, you may hear them respond with a slightly higher, faster squawk to signal danger when you first go out and a slower, lower-pitched noise when they see you go back inside.
So, music with these 鈥渦niversal danger sounds鈥� will give us goosebumps. We still like listening to it, just as we might like a horror film: it offers vicarious, danger-free thrills. And when we get scared in real life, we may make our own high-pitched sound 鈥� a scream 鈥� to relieve stress, a sort of emotional equivalent of noise-cancelling.
Simon McLeish
Lechlade, Gloucestershire, UK
Goosebumps are caused by the involuntary erection of hairs on the skin (piloerection) in response to a stimulus such as cold, but can also be triggered by strong or unexpected emotions. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) shows that music activates some of the same areas of the brain as sex and drugs, and it can cause a rush of dopamine that stimulates the body. But what is the evolutionary importance of this effect?
Musician David Huron has suggested this response to surprise was evolutionarily important: the unexpected could be a threat to our prehistoric ancestors, and a quick response to sound could be life-saving.
This would suggest that the unexpected should be important in music, and it often is. While writing this, I was listening to Abbey Road by The Beatles. A very important part of the experience of that album are the contrasts between the different songs: the sequence from Sun King to The End is all built on the unexpected (and I still love it, even though I have now heard it hundreds of times).
Music appreciation is an intensely personal thing. One individual may have a strong reaction to a piece of music, but another may be left unmoved, even if it is the same recording.
Robin Maguire
Hobart, Tasmania, Australia
Autonomous sensory meridian response, or ASMR, is a pseudoscientific name given to a now-well-known phenomenon, characterised by the occasional sensation of a pleasant tingling. This would seem to have much in common with the goosebumps sometimes triggered by music.
One individual may have a strong reaction to a piece of music, but another person who hears it may be left unmoved
Many people can induce a mild form of ASMR at will, and there are internet sites that offer sounds to prompt the sensation, such as whispering or crinkling paper. So, if you crave the effects of great music but tire of Bach and Mozart, a social media influencer stroking bubble wrap may work just as well.
To answer this question 鈥� or ask a new one 鈥� email lastword@newscientist.com.
Questions should be scientific enquiries about everyday phenomena, and both questions and answers should be concise. We reserve the right to edit items for clarity and style. Please include a postal address, daytime telephone number and email address.
快猫短视频 retains total editorial control over the published content and reserves all rights to reuse question and answer material that has been submitted by readers in any medium or in any format.