Songs can be so moving that they bring intense feelings and emotions - that we already know - but a recent study said that these feelings can also be as intense as having orgasms.
The experts call this sensation "frisson" or "skin orgasm" and it's described as a strong physical sensation that evokes thrill and excitement. Invariably, this is the "tingling sensation" we feel when hearing a certain music. But at its most intense state, it may also evoke sweating, trembling and even arousal for some people.
"The aesthetic experience can be so intense that you can't do anything else," said musician and psychologist Psyche Loui from Wesleyan University in Middletown, Conn., via BBC.
"The term implies a pleasurable sensation that is paradoxically both universal and variable. It affects different parts of the body depending on the person and circumstances of induction, and retains similar sensory, evaluative, and affective biological and psychological components to sexual orgasm," the researchers wrote in their study, according to Metro.
The researchers asked participants of the study to listen to their favorite songs while an fMRI scanner kept track of their brain activity and found out that at least 80 percent of the participants exhibited the physical reaction.
They also noticed that harmony changes, or songs going from soft to loud, or "melodic appoggiaturas" bring about marked changes in brain. "Musical frisson elicit a physiological change that's locked to a particular point in the music," Loui told BBC.
Loui herself identifies these intense feelings when she's listening to a Rachmaninov's "Concerto 2," while some of the participants had the reaction to Adele's "Someone Like You."
Further study also lead researchers to compare other works and check for the types of music that illicit such responses. They identified intense reactions for music genres like pop and folk music and noted that the dopamine in the brain is linked to it, according to Daily Mail.
"You see a similar response when people take drugs or have sex, which may explain why we find shiver-inducing songs so addictive," said Loui.
Matched with emotions and memories people attached to their favorite songs, these leave listeners with a "heady emotional cocktail," the researchers point out in the study.
"Our own autobiographical experiences interact with the musical devices," Loui further tells BBC, "so that everyone finds a different piece of music rewarding."
The full study was published in Frontiers of Psychology.
