Dr. Neil Greenberg » WORD – Frisson 06-06-2017

ART AND ORGANISM

the “DEEP” analysis:

PHYSIOLOGY of AFFECT & EMOTION

frisson

Frisson is a unique signal in humans indicating an emotional component to art-evoked feelings.

Piloerection is a unique signal reflecting an underlying emotional state. Originally associated only with thermoregulation in birds and mammals because the pilomotor muscles at the base of hair or feathers is effective in maintaining a stable body temperature. It can occur, like other autonomic adjustments in anticipation of a stressful experience. It is also visible and thus available as a signal to communicate other stress-involved states such as fear, aggression, or courtship. Its presence and visibility can become enhanced over evolutionary time (see RITUALIZATION) and even become detached in causation from its ancient thermoregulatory origins (“emancipated”).

COMPLEMENT this with DUENDE ( read A&O notes on spontaneity and passion)

EXCERPT from INTRODUCTION of article on piloerection & affect (Benedek and Kaernbach 2011)[i]

“According to most recent theories, human emotion is intrinsically tied to the concomitant activity of the autonomic nervous system. Empirical research has put forth an increasing number of indicators of physiological activity which are considered to be relevant for discriminating between specific subtypes of emotions (for a review, see Kreibig, 2010). One physiological indicator related to strong emotional experience is piloerection. In Charles Darwin’s seminal work on “The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals” (1872), he already acknowledged that “hardly any expressive movement is so general as the involuntary erection of the hairs, feathers and other dermal appendages” (p. 95).

Piloerection, on the one hand, is known as a response to cold as a primary physical elicitor. In animals, the erection of coat hair or feathers serves to increase the isolation layer of air around the body. In humans, piloerection in response to cold is considered as a relic of the thermoregulatory response of our furred ancestors in evolution (Campbell, 1996). On the other hand, piloerection is also known as a response to strong psychological elicitors. In animals, it can be observed in states of anger or anxiety (Darwin, 1872), but it was also observed in the course of courtship of male chimpanzees (Nishida, 1997). In humans, the study of emotional piloerection (i.e., goose bumps) is tightly linked to the study of chills or thrills. [see frisson] While piloerection actually denotes the visible erection of body hair, the phenomenon of chills or thrills usually relates to a subjective experience. This subjective experience is sometimes described by the sensation of ‘shivers down the spine’ and it was found to be a necessary but not sufficient concomitant of visible piloerection (Craig, 2005). However, it should be noted that piloerection and chills are sometimes also found to be used interchangeably in the scientific literature. [and goose bumps]

According to self-report data, the most common psychological elicitors of piloerection or chills are moving music passages, or scenes in movies, plays or books (Goldstein, 1980). Other typical elicitors involve great beauty in nature or art, seeing or reading something heroic, nostalgic moments or physical contact with other persons. In empirical research, most attention has been drawn to chills or piloerection in response to music (e.g., Grewe et al., 2005; Panksepp, 1995; Zatorre, 2005). Some musical structures were identified to trigger chills more frequently than others. These structures involve crescendos, the violation of expectations (e.g., by unexpected harmonies), and the entry of a solo voice, a choir or an additional instrument (Grewe et al., 2007b; Guhn et al., 2007; Nagel et al., 2008; Panksepp, 1995; Sloboda, 1991). These effects are assumed to require active listening which involves directed attention and processes of cognitive appraisal (Grewe et al., 2007b). As a more general effect, familiar music pieces are reported to be more powerful in eliciting chills or piloerection than unfamiliar ones (Craig, 2005; Grewe et al., 2007a; Panksepp, 1995).”

EXCERPT from DISCUSSION of article on piloerection & affect (Benedek and Kaernbach 2011)[i]

After considering specific alternative theories of frisson, affect Benedek and Kaernbach (2011)^[ii] suggest that “…the emotional state marked by piloerection might be viewed to represent the state of being moved or touched, as suggested by the significant association of piloerection and self-report measures on the extent of being moved. The state of being moved or touched was conceptualized by Scherer and Zentner (2001) as being “accompanied by moist eyes, chills, thrills or gooseflesh” (p. 384) and exemplified by “tears shed during sentimental movies in the cinema or the flash of warmth experienced when hearing about a good deed.” (p. 384). Scherer and Zentner also noticed that in some languages such as English or French there does not exist a proper noun denominating the state of being moved, while it would correspond to the concepts of Rührung or Ergriffenheit in German. In line with the presented evidence, this description thus links the state of being moved not only to piloerection but also with physiological indicators of sadness. Similarly, Konečni (2005) assumes that the state of being moved or touched is commonly accompanied by the physiological responses of chills or thrills. In his model, being moved is considered subordinate to the emotional experience of awe. Konečni et al. (2007) again provided evidence that moving stories about heroic acts of selfless self-sacrifice are especially powerful elicitors of self-reported chills. At this, the negative-end stories elicited more chills than positive-end or neutral, but the stimuli at large were found to cause an improvement of mood. So there is evidence for a strong social component in the state of being moved, which has recently also been linked to empathy, intersubjectivity, and the activity of mirror neurons (Bråten, 2007). Moreover, such stimuli (e.g., self-sacrifice) probably elicit quite complex emotional experiences which cannot always be unambiguously attributed to either positive or negative valence (for examinations of emotional states involving mixed valence, see Cacioppo et al., 1999; Carrera and Oceja, 2007; Hemenover and Schimmack, 2007; Larsen et al., 2001 ; Larsen et al., 2009). This is especially evident for the concept of awe, which was conceived as a mixture of fear and joy ( Konečni, 2005 ; Konečni, 2008). The state of being moved (either to tears or by awe) thus appears strongly related to sad or awe-inspiring experiences that still give us pleasure and that we like. And it is just these ambivalent emotional experiences that are commonly found to be indicated by piloerection.”

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A much more extreme physiological response: Can you experience too much beauty? Look in on STENDHAL SYNDROME (aka Jerusalem Syndrome).

[i] Physiological correlates and emotional specificity of human piloerection Mathias Benedek and Christian Kaernbach (2011)Biol Psychol. 86(3): 320–329. doi: 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2010.12.012 PMCID: PMC3061318 Author information ► Article notes ► Copyright and License information ► This article has been cited by other articles:

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Empathic Concern Is Part of a More General Communal Emotion Janis H. Zickfeld, Thomas W. Schubert, Beate Seibt, Alan P. Fiske Front Psychol. 2017; 8: 723. Published online 2017 May 10. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00723 PMCID: PMC5423947 Article PubReader PDF–803K Citation

Two types of peak emotional responses to music: The psychophysiology of chills and tears Kazuma Mori, Makoto Iwanaga Sci Rep. 2017; 7: 46063. Published online 2017 Apr 7. doi: 10.1038/srep46063 PMCID: PMC5384201 Article PubReader PDF–1.0M Citation

The Pleasure Evoked by Sad Music Is Mediated by Feelings of Being Moved Jonna K. Vuoskoski, Tuomas Eerola Front Psychol. 2017; 8: 439. Published online 2017 Mar 21. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00439 PMCID: PMC5359245 Article PubReader PDF–1014K Citation

Tears Falling on Goosebumps: Co-occurrence of Emotional Lacrimation and Emotional Piloerection Indicates a Psychophysiological Climax in Emotional Arousal Eugen Wassiliwizky, Thomas Jacobsen, Jan Heinrich, Manuel Schneiderbauer, Winfried Menninghaus Front Psychol. 2017; 8: 41. Published online 2017 Feb 7. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00041 PMCID: PMC5293808 Article PubReader PDF–737K Citation

Aesthetic Chills: Knowledge-Acquisition, Meaning-Making, and Aesthetic Emotions Felix Schoeller, Leonid Perlovsky Front Psychol. 2016; 7: 1093. Published online 2016 Aug 4. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01093 PMCID: PMC4973431 Article PubReader PDF–854K Citation

On the Origin of Interoception Erik Ceunen, Johan W. S. Vlaeyen, Ilse Van Diest Front Psychol. 2016; 7: 743. Published online 2016 May 23. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00743 PMCID: PMC4876111 Article PubReader PDF–615K Citation

The framing effect and skin conductance responses Patrick Ring Front Behav Neurosci. 2015; 9: 188. Published online 2015 Aug 5. doi: 10.3389/fnbeh.2015.00188 PMCID: PMC4525055 Article PubReader PDF–454K Citation

Effects of Aesthetic Chills on a Cardiac Signature of Emotionality Maria Sumpf, Sebastian Jentschke, Stefan Koelsch PLoS One. 2015; 10(6): e0130117. Published online 2015 Jun 17. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0130117 PMCID: PMC4470584 Article PubReader PDF–1.4M Citation

Towards a Psychological Construct of Being Moved Winfried Menninghaus, Valentin Wagner, Julian Hanich, Eugen Wassiliwizky, Milena Kuehnast, Thomas Jacobsen PLoS One. 2015; 10(6): e0128451. Published online 2015 Jun 4. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0128451 PMCID: PMC4456364 Article PubReader PDF–1.0M Citation

Being moved as one of the major aesthetic emotional states: A commentary on “Being moved: linguistic representation and conceptual structure” Vladimir J. Konečni Front Psychol. 2015; 6: 343. Published online 2015 Mar 31. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00343 PMCID: PMC4379734 Article PubReader PDF–194K Citation

Sensitivity towards Fear of Electric Shock in Passive Threat Situations Patrick Ring, Christian Kaernbach PLoS One. 2015; 10(3): e0120989. Published online 2015 Mar 27. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0120989 PMCID: PMC4376384 Article PubReader PDF–416K Citation

Functional organization of autonomic neural pathways Ian Gibbins Organogenesis. 2013 Jul 1; 9(3): 169–175. Published online 2013 Jun 6. doi: 10.4161/org.25126 PMCID: PMC3896588 Article PubReader PDF–188K Citation Bottom of Form

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[ii] Physiological correlates and emotional specificity of human piloerection Mathias Benedek and Christian Kaernbach (2011)Biol Psychol. 86(3): 320–329. doi: 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2010.12.012 PMCID: PMC3061318 Author information ► Article notes ► Copyright and License information ► This article has been cited by other articles:

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