The Neurobiology of Aesthetic Chills: How Bodily Sensations Shape Emotional Experiences
PsyArXiv Preprints September 7, 2023 preprint DOI: osf:7ru6m_v1 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Review |
|---|---|
| Keywords | Computational neuroscience Cognitive neuroscience Clinical neuroscience |
| Key findings | Argues that aesthetic chills—shivers and goosebumps evoked by rewarding or threatening stimuli—provide a valuable model for studying the brain basis of conscious reward because they combine subjective experience with measurable bodily responses. The authors highlight unresolved questions about bodily feedback timing, interoceptive predictions, uncertainty and precision signaling, and reward-threat balance, and propose that this research could inform non-pharmacological interventions for motivation and pleasure disorders. |
Abstract
The phenomenon of aesthetic chills—shivers and goosebumps associated with either rewarding or threatening stimuli—offers a unique window into the brain basis of conscious reward due to their universal nature and simultaneous subjective and physical counterparts. Elucidating the neural mechanisms underlying aesthetic chills can reveal fundamental insights about emotion, consciousness, and the embodied mind. What is the precise timing and mechanism of bodily feedback in emotional experience? How are conscious feelings and motivations generated from interoceptive predictions? What is the role of uncertainty and precision signaling in shaping emotions? How does the brain distinguish and balance processing of rewards versus threats? Here we review neuroimaging evidence and highlight key questions for understanding how bodily sensations shape conscious feelings of pleasure and meaning. This research stands to advance models of brain-body interactions shaping affect and may lead to novel non-pharmacological interventions for disorders of motivation and pleasure.