Buzz
Travis Carrasco, a 29-year-old mechanical engineer from Las Vegas, Nevada, seems like an ordinary person. He enjoys coloring with colored pencils, reading leadership books, and favors the color green.
However, during his childhood, his relatives observed his strange habit of rocking his head back and forth. He claimed that he was causing goosebumps. They didn't believe him.
It turns out, they were mistaken.
Estimates suggest that roughly one in every 1500 people has a rare ability known as Voluntarily Generated Piloerection (VGP)—the skill to consciously create goosebumps. The strange thing is, VGP should not be possible. This phenomenon both baffles and fascinates neurophysiologists by contradicting the typical understanding of how the unconscious nervous system works.
A mammal's hair follicle is anchored to the skin by a small muscle. When this muscle contracts, the hair stands upright, the skin around it forms bumps, and—there you have it—goosebumps.
For the remaining 1499 people in this metaphor, goosebumps occur entirely without control. The tiny muscle responsible, called the arrector pili, consists of smooth muscle fibers. Just like other smooth muscles in the body—those controlling digestion, blood flow, respiration, and more—they are regulated automatically. The nerves connected to them reside in the autonomic nervous system, which manages bodily functions you’re not supposed to consciously control, such as heart rate or pupil dilation.
Voluntary Generated Piloerection 'Isn't Supposed to Be Possible'
When James Heathers, a physiologist at Northeastern University, encountered an engineering paper mentioning the only three documented cases of VGP in medical history, he was astonished.
‘That was like catnip for me,’ Heathers says to Mytour, his voice tinged with excitement. ‘[VGP] shouldn’t even be possible. That’s not how the autonomic nervous system works or what it’s supposed to do. The reason it’s called autonomic—autonomos—means ‘without thought.’’
Heathers, who typically focuses on data science and patient-centered electronic health development, turned his attention to goosebumps as a scientific side project. In 2018, he published a paper in the journal PeerJ, which was the first effort to define the prevalence and characteristics of VGP.
He wanted to understand exactly how it functions. What goes through people's minds when they induce goosebumps? In what situations do they make it happen? What personality traits do people with VGP commonly share?
Heathers combed through obscure internet forums, distributed surveys, and ultimately assessed 32 VGP participants using standardized personality tests. He discovered that those with VGP who took his survey tended to have more ‘open’ personalities compared to the general population.
‘They seem to be more creative; they imagine more,’ Heathers says. ‘They are more attuned to themselves. They track their emotions more closely. They have a stronger preference for new experiences… It could be because more open individuals are more likely to answer a fun online survey about themselves, or it might be a characteristic of the experience itself.’
A ‘Sixth Sense’
You might be thinking, ‘Wait, I’m open-minded, and I can make myself get goosebumps just by imagining the sound of nails scraping on a chalkboard.’ But Heathers is quick to clarify: that’s not VGP.
‘VGP has no mental or cognitive component,’ Heathers explains. ‘The vast majority of people who experience it, as we've defined it, simply have a direct and uncomplicated pathway. Often, they concentrate on a specific spot, such as the area behind their ear, on their neck, or at the back of their head. They don’t need to think of anything at all.’
In other words, those with VGP only need to focus on the act of triggering goosebumps—not on the usual scenarios that would typically cause them.
‘It essentially begins at the base of my neck, the lower part of my head, and the back,’ says Carrasco, the engineer with VGP, to Mytour. ‘When I trigger it, it feels like sparks spreading through my whole body, and I can repeat it over and over. However, the strongest sensation only occurs during the first few times.’
Although the goosebumps he creates are stronger than the involuntary ones, Carrasco explains that he can intensify the strength and clarity of his goosebumps by swaying his head from side to side.
‘It’s a strange rhythm, but if I move my neck, it triggers a very powerful response,’ Carrasco explains. ‘It’s like when you tightly squeeze your eyes, and you sometimes hear pressure building up, even though it’s really just the muscles around your ears or eyes. It’s similar to that, but with goosebumps, sometimes I can hear that pressure… and it feels soothing. It feels good.’
Carrasco likes to think of it as a sixth sense. He’s never encountered anyone else with VGP. However, he has noticed that his 19-month-old son sways his head frequently as well. And Carrasco can’t help but wonder, ‘Does he have the same ability I have?’
It might be genetic, but scientists are unsure. Regardless of the cause, 30 to 40 times a week, Carrasco can be found using his hidden superpower—a thought that may very well give you goosebumps.
