I want you to think about your favorite song and just remember the way it makes you feel. Can you do it? If you just can’t recall the feeling right now, listen to this amazing performance of Ecstasy of Gold by Ennio Morricone and just tell us how it makes you feel.
Did it send chills down your spine? Did the hair on your arms went up and you felt a tingling sensation at the back of your head? If all of these are true, it may mean you have a special brain in that pretty head of yours. But don’t take our word for it, there scientific evidence to support it.
The University of Southern California has conducted a research led by Matthew Sachs PhD which shows that people who get the chills from listening to music have certain differences in the structure of their brain.
The research involved 20 students who had to listen up to 5 different musical pieces. Half of them said that the music gave them chills down their spine and half of them reported no feelings whatsoever. The researchers then went ahead and scanned all the subject’s brains and came up with interesting conclusions.
In an interview for Neuroscience News, the lead researcher, Matthew, stated that the group of subjects that felt the chills were discovered to have a thicker network of fibers that connect their auditory cortex to the part of the brain in charge of emotional processing. This would indicate that the two areas of the brain have a better communication. Moreover, the same group of subjects had a higher prefrontal cortex which plays an important role in some areas of understanding, like interpretations of songs and their meaning.
Mathew also added that the people who felt a strong emotional response to music were more inclined to experience intense emotions. At the time being, this can only be applied to music because the study’s main focus was the auditory cortex, but down the road, it can be studies in a number of different applications.
The researchers also discovered that the people who are most likely to have a powerful emotional response from music are the ones who are open to experiences and those who’ve had previous musical training, of course.
If Ennio Morricone didn’t send chills down your spine, here’s a breathtaking performance of Llorando (crying) by Rebekah Del Rio which is sure to give you goosebumps.