For some, it’s Mozart, for others, the syrupy melodies of Celine Dion or the more punchy lyrics of a New York rapper.
Different tastes, same effects: our hairs bristle from the first notes. But not for everyone. If music gives goosebumps, we don’t just owe it to our sensitivity. This epidermal reaction affects our brain structure. And it reacts differently from person to person.
To be convinced of this, Matthew Sachs, a researcher at the University of South California (United States), looked into these neurological effects of music. His study published in Neuroscience focused on 20 students, to whom he played their favorite music.
To assess the effects in the brain, explains Top health, all the volunteers had scanners. Those who got goosebumps had “a significantly higher number of neural connections between the auditory cortex (the center for processing emotions) and the prefrontal cortex (involved in executive and cognitive functions)”, summarizes the site of information. It is this hyperconnection that translates an emotion into a physical reaction.
The small sample of the study does not allow drawing scientific conclusions, but gives an orientation. In particular, to develop work in depression. It “results in an inability to experience the pleasure of everyday things”, explains the American researcher. According to him, music would then “explore feelings”.
