ASMR
An autonomous sensory meridian response is a tingling sensation and pleasant form of paresthesia, that usually begins on the scalp and moves down the back of the neck and upper spine. ASMR has been compared with synesthesia and may overlap with frisson. ASMR is a subjective experience of "low-grade euphoria" characterized by "a combination of positive feelings and a distinct static-like tingling sensation on the skin". It is most commonly triggered by specific auditory stimuli, and less commonly by intentional attention control and visual stimuli.
The term can also refer to media meant to evoke this phenomenon, with the sensation itself being informally referred to as "tingles".
Etymology
Although many colloquial and formal terms used and proposed between 2007 and 2010 included reference to orgasm, a significant majority objected to its use among those active in online discussions. Many differentiate between the euphoric, relaxing nature of ASMR and sexual arousal. However, the argument for sexual arousal persists, and some proponents have published videos categorized as "ASMRotica", which are deliberately designed to be sexually stimulating.Early proponents of ASMR concluded that the phenomenon was generally unrelated to sexual arousal. In 2010, Jennifer Allen, a participant in an online forum, proposed that the phenomenon be named "autonomous sensory meridian response". Allen chose the words intending or assuming them to have the following specific meanings:
- Autonomous – spontaneous, self-governing, with or without control
- Sensory – about the senses or sensation
- Meridian – signifying a peak, climax, or point of highest development
- Response – referring to an experience triggered by something external or internal
Sensation
The subjective experience, sensation, and perceptual phenomenon of ASMR is described by some of those susceptible to it as "akin to a mild electrical current... or the carbonated bubbles in a glass of champagne". The tingling sensation on one's skin in general, called paresthesia, is referred to by ASMR enthusiasts as "tingles" when experienced along the scalp, neck, and back. It has been described as "a static tingling sensation originating from the back of the head, then propagating to the neck, shoulder, arm, spine, and legs, which makes people feel relaxed and alert".Variance
Though little scientific research has been conducted into potential neurobiological correlations to the perceptual phenomenon, with a consequent dearth of data with which to explain its physical nature, personal commentary from forums, blog posts, and video comments have been analyzed to describe the phenomenon. Analysis of this anecdotal evidence support the original consensus that ASMR is euphoric but non-sexual, and it has divided those who experience ASMR into two broad categories of subjects. One category depends upon external triggers to experience the localized sensation and its associated feelings, which typically originate in the head, often reaching down the neck and sometimes the upper back. The other category can intentionally augment the sensation and feelings without dependence upon external stimuli through attentional control, in a manner that some subjects likened to their experience of meditation.Triggers
ASMR is usually precipitated by stimuli referred to as "triggers". ASMR triggers, which are most commonly auditory and visual, may be encountered through the interpersonal interactions of daily life. Additionally, ASMR is often triggered by exposure to specific audio and video. Such media may be specially made with the specific purpose of triggering ASMR, or created for other purposes and later discovered to be effective as a trigger.Stimuli that can trigger ASMR, as reported by those who experience it, include the following:
- Listening to a softly spoken or whispering voice
- Listening to a person blow or exhale into a microphone
- Listening to mouth sounds, such as quiet clicking of the tongue or tisking
- Listening to tapping, typically with one's nails onto hard surfaces
- Listening to buttons being pressed, mostly those of computer keyboard typing or video game controllers
- Listening to quiet, repetitive sounds resulting from someone engaging in a mundane task, such as turning the pages of a book
- Watching somebody attentively execute a mundane task, such as preparing food
- Receiving personal attention, such as having one's makeup applied, hair styled, or a medical exam performed.
- Listening to the sound of rain or firewood burning and other natural sounds
- Listening to "crinkly" items such as paper, clothes, and substances such as styrofoam
- Listening to certain types of music
- Listening to "unlikely triggers" like laughing or smiling
Auditory
The effect can reportedly be triggered by whispering.Many of those who experience ASMR report that non-vocal ambient noises performed through human activities are also effective triggers of ASMR. Examples of such noises include fingers scratching or tapping a surface, brushing hair, hands rubbing together or manipulating fabric, the crushing of eggshells, the crinkling and crumpling of a flexible material such as paper, or writing. Many YouTube videos that are intended to trigger ASMR responses feature a single person performing these actions and the sounds that result.
Personal attention
In addition to the effectiveness of specific auditory stimuli, many subjects report that ASMR is triggered by the receipt of tender personal attention, often comprising combined physical touch and vocal expression, such as when having their hair cut, nails painted, ears cleaned, or back massaged while the service provider speaks quietly to the recipient.Furthermore, many of those who have experienced ASMR during these and other comparable encounters with a service provider report that watching an "ASMRtist" simulate the provision of such personal attention, acting directly to the camera as if the viewer were the recipient of a simulated service, is sufficient to trigger it.
Clinical
Among the category of intentional ASMR videos that simulate the provision of personal attention is a subcategory wherein the "ASMRtist" is specifically depicted providing clinical or medical services, including routine general medical examinations. The creators of these videos make no claims to the reality of what is depicted, and the viewer is intended to be aware that they are watching and listening to a simulation performed by an artist. Nonetheless, many viewers attribute therapeutic outcomes to these and other categories of intentional ASMR videos, and there are numerous anecdotal reports of their effectiveness in inducing sleep for those susceptible to insomnia, and assuaging a range of symptoms, including those associated with depression, anxiety and panic attacks.Tactile
In addition to audio and visual stimuli, ASMR may be caused by light touches and brushing against the skin, such as effleurage.Mukbang
Videos where hosts eat large amounts of food on camera, often incorporates sounds of ASMR. Mukbang ASMR includes sounds of chewing and swallowing, which can be experienced as pleasant and calming.Background and history
Contemporary
The official contemporary history of ASMR began on 19 October 2007 on a discussion forum for health-related subjects at a website called Steady Health. A 21-year-old registered user with the handle "okaywhatever" submitted a post describing having experienced a specific sensation since childhood, comparable to that stimulated by tracing fingers along the skin, yet often triggered by seemingly random and unrelated non-haptic events, such as "watching a puppet show" or "being read a story".Replies to this post indicated that a significant number of other people had experienced the sensation described by "okaywhatever", also in response to witnessing mundane events. These interchanges precipitated the formation of a number of web-based locations intended to facilitate further discussion and analysis of the phenomenon, for which there were plentiful anecdotal accounts.
Earlier
suggests that a passage from the novel Mrs Dalloway, written by Virginia Woolf and published in 1925, describes something comparable: A nursemaid speaks to her male patient, "deeply, softly, like a mellow organ, but with a roughness in her voice like a grasshopper's, which rasped his spine deliciously and sent running up into his brain waves of sound". According to Setz, this passage alludes to the effectiveness of the human voice and soft or whispered vocal sounds as a trigger of ASMR for many of those who experience it, as demonstrated by comments posted to YouTube videos that depict someone speaking softly or whispering, typically directly to the camera.There is no known source for the origin of ASMR because it has yet to be identified as having biological correlations. Even so, a majority of descriptions of ASMR by those who experience it compare the sensation to that precipitated by a tender physical touch, providing such examples as having one's hair cut or combed. This has led to the conjecture that ASMR might be related to the act of grooming. For example, David Huron, a professor in the School of Music at Ohio State University, states:
clearly strongly related to the perception of non-threat and altruistic attention strong similarity to physical grooming in primates derive enormous pleasure when being groomed by a grooming partner... not to get clean, but rather to bond with each other.
Imaging subjects' brains with fMRI as they reported experiencing ASMR tingles suggests support for this hypothesis, because brain areas such as the medial prefrontal cortex and the secondary somatosensory cortex were activated more strongly during tingling periods than control periods.