To ask if you’re one of the 1 in 1499 people that can do this?

[SoniaFouler]

It’s called Voluntarily Generated Piloerection (VGP)—the ability to consciously give one’s self goosebumps. I’ve never met anybody else in real life that can do this so thought surely there must be at least one other person on here who can! If you can, how do you trigger yours? Mine is a form of what I can only describe as electric energy at the back of my head which I force down the entire length of my spine, I do it about two or three times rapidly one after the other and the skin on my arms, legs and chest immediately flare up with really strong visible goosebumps - almost like a plucked chicken The example given in the article says the guy moves his head from side to side to trigger it but i do it completely still, just concentrating on making my muscles send the sensation down my back.

Please join me, fellow freaks of nature:

A mammal’s hair follicle clings to the skin via a tiny muscle. When this muscle contracts, the hair will stand, the skin around it will undergo bump-shaped distortion, and voila—goosebumps.

For the 1499 people in this statistical metaphor, goosebumps are completely involuntary. The tiny muscle, called the arrector pili, is made of smooth muscle fibers. And like other smooth muscles of the body—those that handle digestion, blood flow, respiration, and so on—they are unconsciously regulated. The nerves attached to them lie in the autonomic nervous system, the part of the nervous system dedicated to managing bodily functions you aren’t supposed to control consciously, like heart rate or pupil dilation.

www.mentalfloss.com/article/622399/people-can-control-their-goosebumps

That’s really interesting! I can’t do this at all, but on other weird body things. my ear on one side moves in reaction to loud noises on that side, like an animal. Does anyone else’s do that?

If someone drops something or there’s a bang on my right side, my ear will twitch back on that side, like a cat or dog. I didn’t know until I asked dh & kids to check, I thought it was just a weird feeling and not actually moving, but they tell me the tip/side of my ear actually twitches. I can’t make it do it, it’s just pure reflex and completely involuntary.

I’m a generic throwback to pre-ape mammal forms I think, which would explain a lot

I’ve just tried this for the first time in my life and it seems I can 😁

I can also get the beginning of the feeling that I’m about to get goosebumps, I can get the feeling at the back of my neck but don’t seem to be able to send it down properly, I’m getting a tingling in my arms but it’s almost like it’s not ‘climaxing’ to goosebumps. I’ve never tried this before so not sure if with practice it’s something I could achieve?

Yes I can. I didn't know only 1 in 14999 people could do it.

1 in 1499 sorry!

I can't do this but I have a similar thing that I thought was normal (though it is more common I think). It's the ear rumbling thing - the ability to make your ears rumble and pop on command.

I had a twitch in my eye once that was also making my ears rumble and I said to a friend "it's like when you make your ears rumble but it keeps happening involuntarily" and she was like

@Ariela

I can do it, it's like a feeling of pouring them down from the neck.

I can also match a colour from memory. I didn't realise this was unusual, I thought everybody could do it. I've an excellent local fabric shop, and I'd pop the 2 or 3 rolls on the counter to be measured out, then wander down the shop, collect the correct rolls of thread to match, and plonk them on the counter. The shop owner pointed it out, that I always could pick the correct colour to match without holding the fabric next to it - I had no idea. Checked with a friend who is a professional dress maker as I thought surely she'd be able to do it too, but she can't! I've done it several times with wall paint, or cushions, or buying a matching hat/cardigan/top etc without taking in the thing I'm trying to match.

I have no mind's eye so there's no way I could do this. Almost as soon as I took my eyes off it I'd forget. I can't recall any faces including even DH or DCs - I'm the witness you'd want to meet after committing a crime ha

Considering the number of posters who’ve said they can do this vs those who’ve said they can’t I think that statistic of 1 in 1499 must be wrong. I appreciate there will be some self-selected bias in that people are more likely to post if they can do it than if they can’t, but not sure I believe 1497 people have read the thread but left without posting for every poster who says they can do it.

There’s a certain smell that reminds me of being in hospital as a child, it’s a certain disinfectant that takes me back immediately.

I can pop my ears on demand too. I can’t quite do goosebumps.

I can give meself the sensation similar to goosebumps, and feel it kinda speard over my skin, very similar so how others have described starting at teh top of the neck - but when I look I don't actually phsiclly have goosebumps making my hair stand up - I wonder if that's what a lot of people on this thread are doing and that's why it seems so much more common than 1 in 1499?

Fair play to the poster who can orgasm just by thought, but why would you want to give yourself goosebumps?
It's not a nice feeling, I associate it with feeling horribly cold.

Do you regularly force yourself to have goosebumps?

I can't do the goosebump thing, but I can warm my hands up by concentrating on them. From seriously icy numb to glowing in about 30 seconds. Really useful on cold walks/sleeping out.

Not very good at feet.

@MrsToothyBitch

No but my gag reflex is pretty fierce. I watched someone eat rather inelegantly (to be kind) and started to gag. The memory of it makes me gag. Thinking about smells that even when faint make me gag? Yep... that makes me gag. Proper heaving. A couple of times I've actually been slightly sick with it.

@MrsToothyBitch me too. Even thinking about gagging makes me gag.

Smells are a huge trigger for me and I have a formidable sense of smell. My superpower but def a curse!!

However, sadly it is not nearly as cool as the kids making themselves get goosebumps.

I can burp on command...

Me me me!!! I can do it too!! And yes I do just the way you describe OP, like a little internal shake of the neck/shoulders and I feel it run down my back and across my arms. All happens very quickly! Didn’t know it was so rare. Nice to feel special!!

Like a PP I can match colour from memory.
And I have perfect pitch, much to the annoyance of my opera-singing friend as I said, "That's not B-flat, this is! " She tested my assertion on her grand piano and I was spot on.

Wait! There are people who can’t remember smells? Or do you mean you can smell the smell at will by thinking of it? Genuinely interested

I can't do it.

I can't do it at will by moving head or something as mentioned above. I can do it though by thinking of someone chewing on a sleeve or a jumper or sweatshirt or similar and the material squeaking on their teeth. It happens everytime I think about that be it the thought or seeing it happen.

I've got goosebumps now just thinking about it to type it.

I'm not sure I really can do this entirely deliberately, but just reading this post and thinking about goosebumps has given me goosebumps 🤷‍♀️

I can do it. Mine actually start in my head - I can give myself sort of pins and needles in my head - and then goes down to goose pimples in my arms. Sometimes it happens as a reaction to something but I can do it on demand as well.

@JauntyJinty

I can give meself the sensation similar to goosebumps, and feel it kinda speard over my skin, very similar so how others have described starting at teh top of the neck - but when I look I don't actually phsiclly have goosebumps making my hair stand up - I wonder if that's what a lot of people on this thread are doing and that's why it seems so much more common than 1 in 1499?

Yes, I can do this but not have goosbumps actually appear. It's a pelvic floor thing, and sends a shiver from my neck down.

Doesn’t sound like ASMR, which I experience (and is truly wonderful)

I think most people remember certain, evocative or nostalgic scents and smells 🤷🏻‍♀️

I can make the hairs on the back of my head stand up by thinking of something very profound such as Albert Einstein saying "If I have seen further, it is because I was standing on the shoulders of giants" i.e. Newton et al. Or that famous photo of the German woman running towards the wall of water to get her kids in 2004. Or even just thinking of a very good piece of music.

It feels very uncomfortable and is happening as I type.

Don’t know if I can. I would try but the room I’m in is freezing so wouldn’t be accurate.

When analog radio was still a thing I could interfere with the signal by thinking hard.

DH sometimes calls me Carrie White as people will often trip over or fall off bikes when I’m around. (I’m not trying to do that ) Again thinking intensely.