What is the medical reason I get goosebumps all over my body when I hear music that really makes me feel good?

Question

This happens to me anywhere and everywhere when I hear a song that really means something to me or brings back pleasant memories. I just wonder if there is a medical term for this and what process causes me to do this.

Answer 1

This is where western medicine has a hard time explaining.....cause/effect since in western medicine we like to separate mind/ body/ spirit. in short you experience some emotion, we take in what gives us our emotion by the five senses which are linked to your body by the mid brain which processes your visual and auditory data which then sends the data to the cerebrum this activates several processes. conscious thought processes, intellectual functions, memories storage and processing,and (the money) involuntary regulation of somatic motor patterns. After several hormonal, chemical and electrical messages have been sent activating a myriad of body systems ranging from heart beat, blood pressure, pupil size, sweating and general excitation of many body systems. a message gets sent to the post ganglionic fibres to spinal nerves(innervating skin and blood vessels, adipose tissue) which activates piloerection which are little muscles attached to hairs near the roots which make them seem to stand on end. this contracting is called goose bumps(involuntary).



Now why you take note of this and not your racing heart beat which must almost beat in your ears or of the flutter in your heart, or the literal flight of your soul.... that you would do good in asking the Chinese about ...they have a wonderful holistic way of seeing the body systems, spirit and mind.

Answer 2

What you call goosebumps is actually piloerection, in which the hair on the body standing on end. It is an automatic reflex in which emotional stimuli (the way you feel about the music) is converted to visceral responses. It is mediated by the limbic system, a very primitive part of the brain.

Answer 3

Because of emotions, those certain affective states which can be experienced and have arousing and motivational properties. It makes you feel giddy inside. I don't think there is a term for emotion experience.