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

Never heard of this. Tried it, it worked but now I can switch it off and I keep accidentally giving myself goosebumps.

Or maybe I just need to turn the heating up a bit.

I can do this too! Pretty sure it’s more common than the article says.

This is like yawning. Now I've got goosebumps and I'd rather not. It's clearly not that rare! Or perhaps the guy meant you can control your bumps, rather than encourage them to appear.

I can't do this but it's very interesting. I can lick the bottom of my nose though. 😀

I can give myself the feeling of goosebumps but not the actual bumps. But I never get the actual bumps when other things trigger goosebump feelings either (like certain songs etc.), I only get bumps if I'm physically cold

I was going to say this too. I can force the shiver feeling. A bit like an electric cold feeling going through the body but don’t get actual goosebumps, but it’s very rare I get them. Only when it’s very cold.

I can

Yes I can do it. I have to really concentrate for a few mins about just wanting to do it.
If I can't just do it that way I just imagine being cold or a song that's given me goosebumps and then I can.

I also can't do it if I've had a drink. (Someone asked me to prove it once and I couldn't so I've tried a few times when o have had wine and I can't)

@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.

@Ariela I can do this too. I didn't realise not everyone could.

@MolkosTeenageAngst

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 think you can practice because when I try to do it and I can't I get the same feeling

@WakeUpLockie

Ooh I just did it!! I can also orgasm without touching myself 🤣

How do you do this? Asking for a friend

Haha 😄 not sure, just have to be in the mood, think sexy things, get the right muscles going!

I can! I also tried all your methods with a bumpy result each time.

Are you all blushers? I feel sure it’s part of the same thing with me.

@Ariela
I can do the colour thing too. I used to work in Liberty- it was very useful there.

I can do the goosebumps thing too. I sort of 'force' them down from the base of my neck.

My husband can give himself visible goosebumps on his forearms by thinking about cotton wool.
He hates cotton wool and touching it gives him goosebumps. But just thinking about it has the same effect.

Yeah I can do it, I used to do this to scare my brother, make my hands shake and tell my brother that the ghost man that lives in the loft was around, thats why I had goosebumps! Must be a lot more that can do it than first realised by the looks of it! lol x

@Hopeisallineed

Turns out it’s not that special after all! 😂

No, it probably isn't.

But I'm delighted OP made this barking thread.

So odd to find out something I thought was predominantly involuntary can actually be subject to my own control :)
I knew that if the correct stimulus was present, I could encourage the goosebumpy thing to happen, much as per OP's method.
But now I know, if I can concentrate properly, I can get the same reaction without the usual stimuli - gotta keep practising!

Hi, I can match colour from memory too. I once happened to be with my step children in a bicycle shop, and they had a whole wall of paint for bicycles, including dozens of reds. I hadn’t even gone in with this in mind, but picked out the precise shade of one of their bikes. My DP at the time was amazed. It’s nice to come across someone else who can do this.

I can do this. Had no idea that not everyone can … and I’m a nurse

It’s like one of those ‘can you read things backwards’ things on Facebook that apparently makes you ‘super special’, except turns out nearly everyone can.

I never knew that this was a thing! I assumed everyone could. I'm going to quiz people I see on it now!

Feeling very inadequate as I read a thread of freaks superhumans

I can do it. I kind of think goosebumps down the back of my neck. Weird to describe I thought everyone could do it

Can’t do that but I can touch my nose with my tongue. Average size tongue and nose.

I can do the goosebumps, ASMR, perfect colour matching etc. but I can also control my heart rate at will. With meditation-like concentration, I can slow it right down to almost stop … found out as a bored teenager, I don’t do it routinely obviously. However, I cannot roll the sides of my tongue in any direction, I have no control over it whatsoever.

@IHateCoronavirus

I’d really love to know if my son’s voice (at certain angles from behind) would also zap the rest of you goosebumpers. Do any of you become immobilised by low frequency sounds from behind? I’m wondering if it is linked as it feels the same just more extreme and painful.

Infrasound?