-
International Journal of... Sep 2022This paper provides an accessible review of the biological and psychological evidence to guide new and experienced researchers in the study of emotional piloerection in... (Review)
Review
This paper provides an accessible review of the biological and psychological evidence to guide new and experienced researchers in the study of emotional piloerection in humans. A limited number of studies have attempted to examine the physiological and emotional correlates of piloerection in humans. However, no review has attempted to collate this evidence to guide the field as it moves forward. We first discuss the mechanisms and function of non-emotional and emotional piloerection in humans and animals. We discuss the biological foundations of piloerection as a means to understand the similarities and differences between emotional and non-emotional piloerection. We then present a systematic qualitative review (k = 24) in which we examine the physiological correlates of emotional piloerection. The analysis revealed that indices of sympathetic activation are abundant, suggesting emotional piloerection occurs with increased (phasic) skin conductance and heart rate. Measures of parasympathetic activation are lacking and no definite conclusions can be drawn. Additionally, several studies examined self-reported emotional correlates, and these correlates are discussed in light of several possible theoretical explanations for emotional piloerection. Finally, we provide an overview of the methodological possibilities available for the study of piloerection and we highlight some pressing questions researchers may wish to answer in future studies.
Topics: Animals; Emotions; Heart Rate; Humans; Piloerection
PubMed: 35764195
DOI: 10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2022.06.010 -
Advances in Physiology Education Sep 2015Thermoregulation is the maintenance of a relatively constant core body temperature. Humans normally maintain a body temperature at 37°C, and maintenance of this... (Review)
Review
Thermoregulation is the maintenance of a relatively constant core body temperature. Humans normally maintain a body temperature at 37°C, and maintenance of this relatively high temperature is critical to human survival. This concept is so important that control of thermoregulation is often the principal example cited when teaching physiological homeostasis. A basic understanding of the processes underpinning temperature regulation is necessary for all undergraduate students studying biology and biology-related disciplines, and a thorough understanding is necessary for those students in clinical training. Our aim in this review is to broadly present the thermoregulatory process taking into account current advances in this area. First, we summarize the basic concepts of thermoregulation and subsequently assess the physiological responses to heat and cold stress, including vasodilation and vasoconstriction, sweating, nonshivering thermogenesis, piloerection, shivering, and altered behavior. Current research is presented concerning the body's detection of thermal challenge, peripheral and central thermoregulatory control mechanisms, including brown adipose tissue in adult humans and temperature transduction by the relatively recently discovered transient receptor potential channels. Finally, we present an updated understanding of the neuroanatomic circuitry supporting thermoregulation.
Topics: Adaptation, Physiological; Adult; Body Temperature; Body Temperature Regulation; Female; Fever; Humans; Hypothermia; Male; Sensitivity and Specificity; Shivering; Skin Temperature; Sweating; Thermoreceptors; Thermosensing
PubMed: 26330029
DOI: 10.1152/advan.00126.2014 -
International Journal of... Jan 2021In scientific and popular literature, piloerection (e.g. goosebumps) is often claimed to accompany the experience of awe, though this correlation has not been tested...
In scientific and popular literature, piloerection (e.g. goosebumps) is often claimed to accompany the experience of awe, though this correlation has not been tested empirically. Using two pre-registered and independently collected samples (N = 210), we examined the objective physiological occurrence of piloerection in response to awe-inducing stimuli. Stimuli were selected to satisfy three descriptors of awe, including perceptual vastness, virtual reality, and expectancy-violating events. The stimuli reliably elicited self-reported awe to a great extent, in line with previous research. However, awe-inducing stimuli were not associated with the objective occurrence of piloerection. While participants self-reported high levels of goosebumps and "the chills," there was no physical evidence of this response. These results suggest that piloerection is not reliably connected to the experience of awe-at least using stimuli known to elicit awe in an experimental setting.
Topics: Emotions; Humans; Piloerection; Virtual Reality
PubMed: 33245919
DOI: 10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2020.11.011 -
IEEE Transactions on Haptics Apr 2023In this project, we create artificial piloerection using contactless electrostatics to induce tactile sensations in a contactless way. Firstly, we design various...
In this project, we create artificial piloerection using contactless electrostatics to induce tactile sensations in a contactless way. Firstly, we design various high-voltage generators and evaluate them in terms of their static charge, safety and frequency response with different electrodes as well as grounding strategies. Secondly, a psychophysics user study revealed which parts of the upper body are more sensitive to electrostatic piloerection and what adjectives are associated with them. Finally, we combine an electrostatic generator to produce artificial piloerection on the nape with a head-mounted display, this device provides an augmented virtual experience related to fear. We hope that work encourages designers to explore contactless piloerection for enhancing experiences such as music, short movies, video games, or exhibitions.
PubMed: 37097797
DOI: 10.1109/TOH.2023.3269885 -
European Heart Journal Nov 2015Music can powerfully evoke and modulate emotions and moods, along with changes in heart activity, blood pressure (BP), and breathing. Although there is great... (Review)
Review
Music can powerfully evoke and modulate emotions and moods, along with changes in heart activity, blood pressure (BP), and breathing. Although there is great heterogeneity in methods and quality among previous studies on effects of music on the heart, the following findings emerge from the literature: Heart rate (HR) and respiratory rate (RR) are higher in response to exciting music compared with tranquilizing music. During musical frissons (involving shivers and piloerection), both HR and RR increase. Moreover, HR and RR tend to increase in response to music compared with silence, and HR appears to decrease in response to unpleasant music compared with pleasant music. We found no studies that would provide evidence for entrainment of HR to musical beats. Corresponding to the increase in HR, listening to exciting music (compared with tranquilizing music) is associated with a reduction of heart rate variability (HRV), including reductions of both low-frequency and high-frequency power of the HRV. Recent findings also suggest effects of music-evoked emotions on regional activity of the heart, as reflected in electrocardiogram amplitude patterns. In patients with heart disease (similar to other patient groups), music can reduce pain and anxiety, associated with lower HR and lower BP. In general, effects of music on the heart are small, and there is great inhomogeneity among studies with regard to methods, findings, and quality. Therefore, there is urgent need for systematic high-quality research on the effects of music on the heart, and on the beneficial effects of music in clinical settings.
Topics: Anxiety; Depression; Emotions; Heart; Heart Diseases; Heart Rate; Humans; Music; Music Therapy; Pain; Respiratory Rate
PubMed: 26354957
DOI: 10.1093/eurheartj/ehv430 -
Human Toxicology Sep 1986The physiology of piloerection is described and clinical experience is discussed. The objective and subjective evidence for drug-induced piloerection by a number of... (Review)
Review
The physiology of piloerection is described and clinical experience is discussed. The objective and subjective evidence for drug-induced piloerection by a number of drugs is given and, where it is known, their pharmacological mechanism is described. The results are considered in relation to the hypothesis that drug-induced piloerection is only produced by drugs with alpha 1-adrenoceptor agonist activity. For those drugs without the latter activity where piloerection is supported only by subjective evidence it is suggested that objective evidence should be sought. The fact that there is no objective evidence that the classical alpha 1-adrenoceptor agonist, phenylephrine, produces piloerection is found surprising and it is suggested that such evidence should be sought. If it is found that phenylephrine does not produce piloerection, then the possibility of the existence of a further alpha-agonist subgroup needs to be considered.
Topics: Adrenergic alpha-Agonists; Adrenergic alpha-Antagonists; Fear; Humans; Phenylephrine; Piloerection; Reflex; Substance Withdrawal Syndrome
PubMed: 2876951
DOI: 10.1177/096032718600500504 -
Perspectives in Biology and Medicine 2023Most of Charles Darwin's ideas have withstood the test of time, but some of them turned out to be dead ends. This article focuses on one such dead end: Darwin's ideas...
Most of Charles Darwin's ideas have withstood the test of time, but some of them turned out to be dead ends. This article focuses on one such dead end: Darwin's ideas about the connection between piloerection and mental illness. Piloerection is a medical umbrella term to refer to a number of phenomena in which our hair tends to stand on end. Darwin was one of the first scientists to study it systematically. In The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals (1872), he discusses piloerection in the context of his analysis of the expressions involved in fear and anger, relying heavily on the evidence provided by one of his correspondents, the British psychiatrist James Crichton Browne. This essay reveals how Darwin's initial doubts about the similarity between piloerection in animals and psychiatric patients were eased when studying photographic portraits of female psychiatric patients sent to him by Crichton Browne. It considers arguments against Darwin's reading of these portraits and the apparent contrast between this reading and his own skepticism, in later years, about the value of documentary photography. The article concludes with some notes regarding the reception of Darwin's ideas about psychopathology.
Topics: Humans; Mental Disorders; History, 19th Century; Animals; Biological Evolution; Female; Psychiatry
PubMed: 38661841
DOI: 10.1353/pbm.2023.a909723 -
Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery, and... Jun 2004Piloerection is a rare clinical symptom described during seizures. Previous reports suggested that the temporal lobe is the ictal onset zone in many of these cases. One... (Comparative Study)
Comparative Study Review
BACKGROUND
Piloerection is a rare clinical symptom described during seizures. Previous reports suggested that the temporal lobe is the ictal onset zone in many of these cases. One case series concluded that there is a predominant left hemispheric representation of ictal cold. The aim of this study is to evaluate the localising and lateralising value of pilomotor seizures.
METHODS
Medical records of patients who underwent video electroencephalogram (EEG) monitoring at the Cleveland Clinic between 1994 and 2001 were reviewed for the presence of ictal piloerection. The clinical history, physical and neurological examination, video EEG data, neuroimaging data, cortical stimulation results, and postoperative follow ups were reviewed and used to define the epileptogenic zone. Additionally, all previously reported cases of ictal piloerection were reviewed.
RESULTS
Fourteen patients with ictal piloerection were identified (0.4%). Twelve out of 14 patients had temporal lobe epilepsy. In seven patients (50%), the ictal onset was located in the left hemisphere. Four out of five patients with unilateral ictal piloerection had ipsilateral temporal lobe epilepsy as compared with the ipsilateral side of pilomotor response. Three patients became seizure free after left temporal lobectomy for at least 12 months of follow up. An ipsilateral left leg pilomotor response with simultaneously recorded after-discharges was elicited in one patient during direct cortical stimulation of the left parahippocampal gyrus.
CONCLUSIONS
Ictal piloerection is a rare ictal manifestation that occurs predominantly in patients with temporal lobe epilepsy. Unilateral piloerection is most frequently associated with ipsilateral focal epilepsy. No hemispheric predominance was found in patients with bilateral ictal piloerection.
Topics: Adolescent; Adult; Brain Mapping; Electroencephalography; Epilepsy, Temporal Lobe; Female; Follow-Up Studies; Functional Laterality; Humans; Male; Middle Aged; Piloerection; Seizures; Temporal Lobe; Videotape Recording
PubMed: 15146005
DOI: 10.1136/jnnp.2003.023333 -
PeerJ 2018Autonomic nervous systems in the human body are named for their operation outside of conscious control. One rare exception is voluntarily generated piloerection...
Autonomic nervous systems in the human body are named for their operation outside of conscious control. One rare exception is voluntarily generated piloerection (VGP)-the conscious ability to induce goosebumps-whose physiological study, to our knowledge, is confined to three single-individual case studies. Very little is known about the physiological nature and emotional correlates of this ability. The current manuscript assesses physiological, emotional, and personality phenomena associated with VGP in a sample of thirty-two individuals. Physiological descriptions obtained from the sample are consistent with previous reports, including stereotypical patterns of sensation and action. Most participants also reported that their VGP accompanies psychological states associated with affective states (e.g., awe) and experience (e.g., listening to music), and higher than typical openness to new experiences. These preliminary findings suggest that this rare and unusual physiological ability interacts with emotional and personality factors, and thus merits further study.
PubMed: 30083447
DOI: 10.7717/peerj.5292 -
Frontiers in Neuroscience 2020The volitional control of piloerection has been previously reported in a small subset of individuals. Although this ability may be useful to study the mechanism...
The volitional control of piloerection has been previously reported in a small subset of individuals. Although this ability may be useful to study the mechanism underlying piloerection, there is little existing research on this ability, neither objective evidence at a group-level, nor information about its stability under experimental constraints. The present study aimed to validate existing findings of voluntarily generated piloerection (VGP) and to examine its potential contribution to neuroscientific research based on objective evidence of this ability. In Study 1, to confirm the characteristics of VGP reported in previous studies and identify individuals with VGP capability, an online survey of VGP candidates was conducted. In Study 2, 18 VGP holders participated in a mail-based piloerection measurement experiment, and the nature of VGP was examined based on the objective data obtained by image-based analysis (GooseLab). Study 1 largely confirmed the characteristics of VGP reported in previous studies, and Study 2 demonstrated VGP at a group-level and provided information about the temporal characteristics of this ability, which supports the utility of VGP in neuroscientific research. For some participants, VGP appeared to be emotionally promoted, which suggests that VGP has some relationship with the emotional nature of involuntary piloerection. Although the studies did not tightly control the environment in which VGP was elicited, the findings nonetheless demonstrate the possible contribution of VGP to elucidating the mechanism of involuntary emotional piloerection and the neural basis of piloerection itself.
PubMed: 32581701
DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2020.00590