Studies Show That Getting Goosebumps While Listening To Music Means Your Brain Is ‘Different’

Music is perhaps one of the most amazing things that we have in life. It is also something that can affect us in different ways. For some people, it is just something to fill the void and they may hear the music playing but don’t pay much attention to it. For others, however, there is an emotional connection that is undeniable. You may even find that certain songs give you chills and goosebumps when you hear it!

I can think of many different songs that make me feel somewhat nostalgic when I hear them. As soon as they start playing, it brings back a flood of emotions that is difficult to deny. As an example, here is a song that I have always loved that it never fails to give me goosebumps when I hear it.

When I hear this song I find myself flashing back to many years ago when I was driving around my hometown. It is something that is guaranteed to bring up those types of emotions for me. As it turns out, it is a rare gift that says something interesting about us.

In 2016, a study tried to identify why people got chills and goosebumps when they heard music. What they found out was incredible.

For this study, they used 10 people who did experience the emotions and 10 who did not experience the same emotions. The study was conducted by a former undergraduate at Harvard, Matthew Sachs. What he discovered is that people who became emotionally connected to the music and experienced physical manifestations of those emotions had a different type of brain structure than those who didn’t have the same reaction.

The people who did have the reaction usually had a denser volume of fibers that connect the areas of the brain that process emotions with the auditory cortex. In other words, there was a higher level of communication taking place.

He feels that a person who has such a strong attachment to music may have stronger overall emotions. Additional research is being conducted that focuses on how certain reactions take place due to music and the effect that it has on brain activity. Ultimately, they are trying to use the data to treat psychological disorders.

Sachs says, “Depression causes an inability to experience pleasure of everyday things. You could use music with a therapist to explore feelings.”