Music Sets Off Sex-Like Orgasms: Study

Two researchers have discovered that music can actually induce the feeling of sex-like orgasms, called frissions.

Psyche Loui from the Department of Psychology at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut, along with her student, Luke Harrison, conducted a study which attempted to explain the intense physical reaction most people have when listening to music, reports BBC.

It would seem that the two researchers  based their study on a 1991 research, which concluded that anyone listening to their favorite form of music could experience intense physical sensations like trembling, flushing, sweating and even sexual arousal.

Loui and Harrison found that 80 percent of the listeners in their study exhibited a strong physical reaction to music, similar to those experienced during a sexual orgasm, reports Daily Mail.

They labeled this intense bout of psychical sensations "frission" or "skin orgasms"  to differentiate the feeling from an actual sexual orgasm, since there are some negative connotations to the term.

Loui explained on BBC: "Musical frission elicit a physiological change that's locked to a particular point in the music." Loui described frission as a "pleasurable sensation," which can affect different parts of the body, unlike a sexual orgasm, states HNGN.

"You see a similar response when people take drugs or have sex, which may explain why we find shiver-inducing songs so addictive," added Loui.

To retrieve the data, the researchers attached fMRI scanners to the participants of the study while they were listening to their favorite songs. The fMRI tracked their brain activity while listening to the song.

With the help of the fMRI scans, the researhers were able to pinpoint certain parts of songs that highly incurred frissions in people. According to BBC, changes in harmony, dynamic leaps and melodic appoggiaturas were particularly influential in causing frissions.

Dynamic leaps occur when music goes from soft to loud, while melodic appoggiaturas involve dissonant notes clashing with the main melody of the song, similar to the one heard in "Someone Like You" by Adele.

Upon further research, Loui and Harrison found that people were more likely to experience frissions when listening specifically to Pop or Folk music, reports Daily Mail.

The researchers believe there a number of theories that could support why music can successfully induce such an intense physiological reaction.

One explanation involves the release of dopamine, the hormone responsible for emotions and feelings of euphoria. It would seem that dopamine is released when people are listening to their favorites songs causing frissions to occur.

Another possible theory that could explain frission is that the sensation might be related to the auditory area, which is believed to be linked to the emotional and rewards processing regions of the brain.