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In a next stage, the research team examined whether different musical genres would also have a difference in the analgesic effects. By interviewing participants about their emotional responses to their favorite music, they categorized the tunes into categories such as energetic/dynamic, happy/uplifting, calming/relaxing, and emotional/bittersweet. According to Darius Valevicius, a PhD candidate at the University of Montreal, it was found that emotional reactions play a significant role in predicting whether music will have an effect on pain.
Specifically, the touching the bittersweet emotional experiences they seem to have a greater pain-relieving effect, which could be attributed to the more intense enjoyment of the music and, by extension, more “chills,” according to Valevicius.
Although its nature shivering from the music -“musical chills” in the terminology of the researchers- is not clear, it seems to cause a neurophysiological response capable of blocking pain pathways. In addition to chills, the experience may also be experienced as chills or tingling.
A limitation of the study was the duration of the music samples. Possibly, more time with relaxing music led to stronger effects than the short-duration sounds used in the study.