Article: Valorie N Salimpoor, Mitchel Benovoy, Kevin Larcher, Alain Dagher & Robert J Zatorre.  Anatomically distinct dopamine release during anticipation and experience of peak emotion to music. Nature Neuroscience.  Free Access Here See BBC Coverage here A few weeks ago I wrote a blog about the experience of musical chills or ‘shivers down the spine’ – that unique, intense, peak emotional as well as physical experience that we can get when listening to our favourite piece of music. Pavarotti singing ‘Panis Angelicus’ does it for me – what a voice! Well, this topic must be in fashion as today sees the pre-release online launch of a new Nature Neuroscience article…

Paper: Nusbaum, E.C. & Silva, P.J. (2010). Shivers and Timbres: Personality and the Experience of Chills from Music. Social Psychology and Personality Science. The online version of this article is available here.  Yesterday I was listening to a youtube version of Pavarotti singing Panis Angelicus with his father, recorded in their family church in Modena in 1978 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C4mD_EJttQk) As the pair reach the final high note of the final phrase together, I get a little shiver down my spine: Wonderful. There is something about the song and their performance in particular that is so powerful for me that it sets off a physical reaction. What is that all about? Have you…