These moments – termed “chills,” “thrills”, “gooseflesh,” etc.
But the physiological reaction of the shiver that runs down our back in response to an aesthetic sensation is known in scientific literature with the name frisson: an aesthetic shiver, a real skin orgasm.
We usually associate goosebumps with cold, but about 2/3 of the population also experience this sensation when listening to certain pleasant melodies or, less frequently, watching a film or observing a work of art.
But what happens to our brain in those moments?
The cause of this phenomenon is associated with the production of dopamine (the neurotransmitter of pleasure and reward). Usually the so-called "piloerection" occurs in a fight-flight situation and is partly associated with the release of adrenaline.
However, it can happen that in pleasant situations they are involved in the same situations of excitement and addiction, in which the release of dopamine is involved.
Frisson is associated with creativity and with more nerve connections between the auditory cortex, the part of the brain that processes sound, and the anterior part of the insula, a brain region involved in processing emotions.
“Thrills, chills, frissons, and skin orgasm: toward an integrative model of transcendent psychophysiological experiences in music”, Luke Harrison, Psyche Loui, 2014, Department of Psychology, Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT, USA, Frontiers in Psychology