The Disgust of Grima

What is grima? Grima is a Spanish word for the experience of an unpleasant sensation when hearing or feeling certain things like scratching a backboard or rubbing plastic foam.

Although many of us have not likely heard of the word grima, most of us have felt this at some point in our lives. A new study from the University of Madrid and published in Frontiers in Psychology found that the affective meaning (that is the emotional meaning) of grima was more closely related to disgust than any other emotion.

The head of the study, Inge Schweiger Gallo, always had issues with touching foam rubber, asking people to handle that packaging for her. The study conducted tests with Spanish speakers to find out how they understood grima. Spanish speakers associated grima with an “unpleasant sensation”, “shivering”, “sounds” and “repulsion”. Grima was rated as less pleasant than disgust. That means grima was worse than regular disgust.

The stimulus that most often elicits grima are squeaking noises, scratching with fingernails and scratching on surfaces.

A second group was also involved in the study, this time instead of Spanish speakers it was German and English speakers who don't have a word for grima. These participants had their heart rates measured when hearing grima sounds. Heart rates fell slightly at first and then rose sharply before going back to normal after 6 seconds. The effects of grima sounds on physiological changes of skin conductance were similar to disgusting or unpleasant sounds.

When the Spanish speakers were asked to think about the sounds differently, such as thinking “if I hear grima-eliciting sounds, I will ignore it”, they ended up rating the grima sounds as less unpleasant. But when hearing non-grima disgust-induced sounds they did not have a reduction in disgust. Grima is similar to disgust, but not the same.

This evidence suggests that grima is not simply a reflex reaction, but an emotional experience distinct from disgust, but influenced by our thoughts just as any emotion is.

Sounds aren't the only stimulus for grima to be experienced. Tactile feeling of objects can bring this about, like foam or rubber textures. Objects like foam can make noise, but others like cork, velvet or sponges don't make noise, but they do elicit grima.

A previous study in 2006 about audio frequencies found that the 2000-5000 Hz ranges are the most irritating. This range of frequencies is similar to the chimpanzee warning cries which had researchers speculate the reaction to these frequencies in grima comes from our predator-fleeing instincts of our evolutionary past. Screaming causes the vocal cords to vibrate uncontrollably and creates a similar effect of roughness like scratching a board with fingernails, similar to a violin bow.

A brain imaging study in 2012 also showed these frequencies of sound affect the amygdala in the brain, which is involved in fearful responses. This heightens activity int he auditory cortex to have more saliency applied and giving more important to listen to sounds in our environment as a possible threat to our survival.

I've know the fingernails on the blackboard, and certain types of foam manipulation, can give me shivers, but not all foam.

Are you immune to grima-based sounds or textures?

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References:

• The feeling you get when nails scratch a blackboard has a name
• "Grima: A Distinct Emotion Concept?", Frontiers in Psychology, DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00131

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2017-02-2, 11:18am