Sunday, December 12, 2010

Bump of Goose

According to researchers at the University of North Carolina, people who enjoy aesthetic experiences like art, music and movies are more likely to get chills when they are moved by certain music.

Whether it's the "Hallelujah" chorus, Vince Guaraldi's "Linus and Lucy" or Bing Crosby, the emotional experience of the music produces a response in a part of the brain that, among other things, promotes involuntary responses like goosebumps or blushing.

The opposite response to chills -- a feverish one -- is, according to the phrasing of a popular argument offered by one E. Aron Presley, an inherited, gender-linked trait: "Cats were born to give chicks fever/Be it Fahrenheit or centigrade." But even though unavoidable, it is not unpleasant: "Fever till you sizzle/What a lovely way to burn."

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