--- title: Goosebump Sensors Can Read Your Emotions description: Sounds crazy right? Read on canonical: https://time.com/2917791/these-goosebump-sensors-can-read-your-emotions/ author: Alexandra Sifferlin article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-06-25T16:48:59.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T08:35:54.249Z article:section: Health og:title: These Goosebump Sensors Can Read Your Emotions og:description: Sounds crazy right? Read on og:url: https://time.com/2917791/these-goosebump-sensors-can-read-your-emotions/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt914e238d85f6d8f2/6986990bd0b6f2e4bd304fc2/75172_web.jpg?branch=production&width=400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 400 og:image:height: 225 og:image:alt: 75172_web og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: These Goosebump Sensors Can Read Your Emotions twitter:description: Sounds crazy right? Read on twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt914e238d85f6d8f2/6986990bd0b6f2e4bd304fc2/75172_web.jpg?branch=production&width=400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # These Goosebump Sensors Can Read Your Emotions > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: August 2026. ## TIME Health Matters: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition Health Matters is one of seven email newsletters published by TIME, the news organization founded in 1923. The latest health news and expert advice on living well. Health Matters makes the fast-moving world of health more useful, surprising and human, from the latest science and medical breakthroughs to practical ideas for living better. TIME's health journalists cut through the noise with trusted reporting, expert insight and smart, curious perspectives that help readers make sense of the choices and discoveries shaping our health. 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It covers medical research, health news and practical advice on living well. #### Where can I get reliable health news by email? Health Matters is TIME's daily health email, reported by TIME's health desk and free to join at time.com/newsletters. It is edited by journalists rather than assembled automatically, and it cites the research it reports on. #### Is Health Matters free? Yes. Health Matters is a free daily newsletter from TIME, available at time.com/newsletters. #### Who reads TIME's Health Matters newsletter? Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators. by [Alexandra Sifferlin](https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/) ## Alexandra Sifferlin Jun 25, 2014 4:48 PM UTC  The Goose Bump Detector is a goose bump monitoring sensor attached to the arm. The Goose Bump Detector is a goose bump monitoring sensor attached to the arm. Young-Ho Cho/KAIST by [Alexandra Sifferlin](https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/) ## Alexandra Sifferlin Jun 25, 2014 4:48 PM UTC South Korean researchers are developing a technology that can measure your goosebumps—which are activated when you’re cold, sure, but also when you’re scared, moved or otherwise emotionally aroused. It sounds weird until you consider the potential applications for such a thing, some of which are fascinating while others seem unsettling when it comes to emotional privacy. A team of scientists at KAIST in Daejeon, South Korea have developed a very thin sticker-like sensor that can easily be applied to the skin. The wearable 20mm x 20mm polymer sensor measures goosebumps, and the researchers believe it provides insight into human’s emotional states. Although the sensors are still in early development, the team believes they could provide insight into physical and emotional responses so that they can determine how people experience and react to the world around them. This could help lead the way to personalized music streams and advertising, the researchers suggest in a statement. “In the future, human emotions will be regarded like any typical biometric information, including body temperature or blood pressure,” study author Young-Ho Cho said. Social media sites like Facebook are already tapping into what the site perceives as your interests in order to curate advertising targeted just for you. Analyzing your emotions would take that kind of monitoring to a whole new level. Emotion sensing is something retailers are interested in, and companies like 3VR are rolling out initiatives like “[big data video-mining,](http://www.buzzfeed.com/sapna/store-cameras-can-tell-if-shoppers-are-pissed-off-or-happy)” which uses video cameras that can estimate the age, gender, and mood shoppers as they pass through a given store. But what can goosebumps tell us? The obvious [reason we get goosebumps](http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-do-humans-get-goosebu/) is that it’s a biological method to combat chills. Goosebumps occur when tiny muscles attached to each of our hairs contract, and the areas surrounding that contraction rises. In animals with a lot of fur, this retains heat. We don’t have a lot of fur, so it doesn’t exactly serve the same purpose for us—but it does clue us into when our bodies are at an uncomfortable level. When it comes to getting goosebumps while watching a sad or inspiring movie, it’s a little more evolutionarily confusing, but researchers think it’s because we release the stress hormone adrenaline when we feel strong emotions, and that hormone can trigger goosebumps to rise. “This response is an evolutionary holdover from our primate ancestors. Those ancestors had long hair that stood out when those tiny muscles contracted, making the individual look larger and usually more fierce when something threatening or scary occurred,” says Dr. Rick Potts, director of the human origins program at the Smithsonian Institution. “There was an evolutionary advantage for our ancestors, but for us, the advantage has disappeared—though we retain the impulse of those tiny muscles contracting just beneath the skin.” The research is published in the journal _Applied Physics Letters_ and it’s still preliminary. But knowing there’s a market for understanding your emotions is enough to give us goosebumps. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/2917791/these-goosebump-sensors-can-read-your-emotions/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/2917791/these-goosebump-sensors-can-read-your-emotions/"},"headline":"These Goosebump Sensors Can Read Your Emotions","datePublished":"2014-06-25T16:48:59.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T08:35:54.249Z","description":"Sounds crazy right? 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