What is it that gives us that spine-tingling feeling? Well, a team of scientists from Goldsmiths University’s i2 Media Research Lab have been on a quest to find out and where better to do it than somewhere recently named one of the happiest places in the world?
Yes! This study was commissioned and undertaken at Warner Bros. Studio Tour London – a place where joy and nostalgia collide to create those hair-raising moments. Let us remind you of the magic…
There’s no doubt that the Studio Tour is an emotional experience, but the scientists wanted to dig deeper and reveal what exactly is behind that hard-to-describe feeling. To do this, they created a study which was the first of its kind – undertaken in a real-world attraction environment, rather than in a laboratory, to create a unique experiment.
But how do you measure such an emotional response? By fitting the participants with some ingenious hand sensors that we’re sure Arthur Weasley would find absolutely fascinating!
These sensors monitored their physiological responses, including heart rate and skin conductance (Galvanic Skin Response, or GSR). The latter measures small changes in sweat activity and is widely used to indicate emotional stimulation, making it useful for identifying those ‘goosebump moments’.
The participants also rated the intensity of their feelings on a scale of one to five, allowing researchers to match what people felt with how their bodies reacted – spotting where those magical goosebumps really kicked in.
So what was the outcome? Why not see the results for yourself…
Interestingly, the scientists discovered that it is rarely one emotion that causes that spine-tingling feeling, it’s a combination of multiple intense emotions. In fact, a total of seven were recorded, with joy and nostalgia taking top place as the feelings most often found alongside ‘goosebump’ moments and scoring the highest for intensity with a whopping 90%.
As Professor Jonathan Freeman explained:
“What’s particularly interesting here is that much of the existing research on goosebump moments – known to scientists as ‘aesthetic chills’ – has tended to look at very short, isolated clips or musical excerpts, usually in tightly controlled lab settings. In contrast, this study examined responses within a more complex, multi-layered and genuinely immersive real-world environment”.
“The Studio Tour offers a particularly strong context for this kind of work, as it brings together spectacle, narrative and culturally recognisable moments in a unique way that allows different emotional responses to emerge, accumulate and overlap.”
Indeed, in the experiment, participants were really feeling it. On the set of Destroyed Gringotts, the highest peaks in skin conductance were measured with immersion (80% intensity), excitement (80% intensity) and awe (60% intensity) reported as the main underlying feelings. In fact, one participant’s GSR rose to 99% above baseline as the fearsome Ukrainian Ironbelly dragon emerged from a cloud of smoke!
That wasn’t the only area of the Studio Tour that saw some strong emotional responses. The Great Hall – the room where Harry discovered his Hogwarts house and possibly the most recognisable of all the sets – saw the highest number of emotions reported. As participants walked into the set that unlocked plenty of magical memories, awe, joy, nostalgia and surprise were all present with an 80% intensity.
With 2026 marking 25 years since the first Harry Potter film hit our screens and nostalgia at an all-time high, where better to have your own ‘goosebumps’ moment than the Studio Tour?
If you would like to revel in the nostalgia and joy, visit the Studio Tour website to get your tickets and find out more information – including a celebration of 25 years of Harry Potter film magic with their brand-new summer feature, First Year at Hogwarts!
