Frisson, also known as aesthetic chills or psychogenic shivers, is a psychophysiological response to rewarding stimuli that often induces a pleasurable or otherwise positively-valenced affective state and transient paresthesia, sometimes along with piloerection (goosebumps) . Frisson is a sudden feeling or sensation of excitement, emotion, or thrill that can be triggered by various stimuli, including music, poetry, videos, beauty in nature or art, eloquent speeches, and the practice of science (mainly physics and mathematics) . Frisson can also be a product of emotional contagion, where various musical devices, such as tonality, rhythm, and lyrics that imply emotion, trigger similar emotions in the listener.
Frisson is usually known for being evoked by experiences with music, but it can also be triggered by other stimuli, such as staring at a brilliant sunset or a beautiful painting, realizing a deep insight or truth, reading a particularly resonant line of poetry, or watching the climax of a film. Frisson is a physically felt signature of an emotion, a somatic marker, experimentally tied to peak emotional experiences and the most meaningful moments during exposure to different stimuli, such as songs or speeches or art pieces.
The experience of frisson is not confined to music, but listening to emotionally moving music is the most common trigger of frisson. Frisson can be amplified by ones environment and by the social context that the piece has been listened to. For example, if one listens to a movie soundtrack in a cinema, the overall volume and the films story will provide intentional context, likely creating deeper emotional feelings of frisson in the listener.
Experimental studies have shown that tingling during frisson is accompanied by increased electrodermal activity (skin conductance), which is mediated via the sympathetic nervous system. Frisson is a biological prerequisite for survival, corresponding to a satisfaction of humans’ internal drive to acquire knowledge about the external world and perceive objects and situations as meaningful.
In summary, frisson is a psychophysiological response to rewarding stimuli that often induces a pleasurable or otherwise positively-valenced affective state and transient paresthesia, sometimes along with piloerection (goosebumps). It can be triggered by various stimuli, including music, poetry, videos, beauty in nature or art, eloquent speeches, and the practice of science (mainly physics and mathematics). Frisson is a physically felt signature of an emotion, a somatic marker, experimentally tied to peak emotional experiences and the most meaningful moments during exposure to different stimuli.
