🎶Emotions and Music🎶

While some songs stimulate greater feelings than others, the scientific tie between music and emotions, such as love, is very real.

A McGill University study breaks down how music can actually cause a release of dopamine in the brain.

Dopamine, the “feel–good chemical,” is usually released when you  sleep or eat and operates as a means of reward in the body.

Singing can cause the release of oxytocin, often called the “cuddle hormone,” causing positive feelings associated with music.

Music produces not only hormonal effects, but physical effects as well. Those chills you may get when listening to a great song are the result of your brain’s reaction to the song.

Get ready to learn a new word because those chills actually have a name: frissons.

A study published by Wesleyan University’s psychology department goes deeper into that feeling known as “skin orgasms.” So, if you’re ever listening to music and feel as if love is suddenly filling up your insides, you now know exactly how to describe it. 

An article in ABC News cites Dr. Sandra Garrido, “We are evolutionarily programmed to respond to particular cues in the human voice and to perceive them as expressing particular emotions … And when those same features occur in music we respond to that in the same way, [it's] as if it was a person in front of us doing that."

This means that when an artist’s voice has a loving tone, we may be more likely to be romantically stimulated. 

Beyond these experiences, music may actually impact the way you look at a loved one. While a photograph may not stimulate any sort of reaction, adding what may be considered “happy music” can actually make it more pleasant.

Joyful music can make someone seem happy, and sad music can have the opposite effect. The sounds you hear when interacting with your crush or partner can actually lead you to view them more positively. 

We can also create direct associations between the music we listen to and specific positive emotions we feel.  Relating a song to an experience of love can lead you to consistently feel deep affection when playing back that song, and once you create a relationship with a piece of music, and even have ‘your song,’ it can consistently create positive feelings for you. 

Music doesn’t stimulate lovey–dovey feelings in everyone, but there is evidence that it can. It has power beyond what we can see. So next time a song brings you a desire to find "the one," don’t worry, It’s natural.