Volitional Control of Piloerection: Objective Evidence and Its Potential Utility in Neuroscience Research

Abstract

The volitional control of piloerection has been previously reported in a small subset of individuals. Although this ability may be useful to study the mechanism underlying piloerection, there is little existing research on this ability, neither objective evidence at a group-level, nor information about its stability under experimental constraints. The present study aimed to validate existing findings of voluntarily generated piloerection (VGP) and to examine its potential contribution to neuroscientific research based on objective evidence of this ability. In Study 1, to confirm the characteristics of VGP reported in previous studies and identify individuals with VGP capability, an online survey of VGP candidates was conducted. In Study 2, 18 VGP holders participated in a mail-based piloerection measurement experiment, and the nature of VGP was examined based on the objective data obtained by image-based analysis (GooseLab). Study 1 largely confirmed the characteristics of VGP reported in previous studies, and Study 2 demonstrated VGP at a group-level and provided information about the temporal characteristics of this ability, which supports the utility of VGP in neuroscientific research. For some participants, VGP appeared to be emotionally promoted, which suggests that VGP has some relationship with the emotional nature of involuntary piloerection. Although the studies did not tightly control the environment in which VGP was elicited, the findings nonetheless demonstrate the possible contribution of VGP to elucidating the mechanism of involuntary emotional piloerection and the neural basis of piloerection itself.

The physiological study of emotional piloerection: A systematic review and guide for future research

“…Darwin (1872), while having noted the apparent non-conscious function of piloerection, could not help but notice that the arrector pili muscles also seem to be under the control of voluntary muscles simultaneously. Much more recent research has also remarked on this puzzlement (Grewe and Kopiez, 2010;Heathers et al, 2018;Katahira et al, 2020a;Muzik et al, 2018): humans should not be able to control the autonomic system consciously.…”

“…Humans are, of course, mammals, so perhaps a vestigial system remains in some humans. In depth study of the people who are able to voluntarily control piloerection may provide answers to these questions (Benedek et al, 2010;Heathers et al, 2018;Katahira et al, 2020b).…”

“…Benedek et al (2010) designed a MatLab program (Gooselab; http://www.goosecam.de/gooselab.html) and recording device (Goosecam), which analyses video of a subject's skin for the visual occurrence of goosebumps. This is the most widely adopted measurement system (e.g., Katahira et al, 2020b;McPhetres and Shtulman, 2021;Quesnel and Riecke, 2018;Sumpf et al, 2015;Wassiliwizky, Koelsch, et al, 2017;Zickfeld et al, 2020). In general, it is quite simple and affordable.…”

The physiological study of emotional piloerection: A literature review and guide for future research

“…Darwin (1872), while having noted the apparent non-conscious function of piloerection, couldn't help but notice that the arrector pili muscles also seem to be under the control of voluntary muscles simultaneously. Much more recent research has also remarked on this puzzlement ( Grewe & Kopiez, 2010;Heathers, Fayn, Silvia, Tiliopoulos, & Goodwin, 2018;Katahira, Kawakami, Tomita, & Nagata, 2020;Muzik, Reilly, & Diwadkar, 2018): humans should not be able to control the autonomic system consciously.…”