Autonomous sensory meridian response

Auldy

Senior Member.
Autonomous sensory meridian response (or ASMR) is currently a trending type of online therapy flooding youtube. Supposedly watching these whispering ladies imaginarily massage you will induce "distinct, pleasurable tingling sensation in the head, scalp, back, or peripheral regions of the body in response to visual, auditory, tactile, olfactory, or cognitive stimuli." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autonomous_sensory_meridian_response

So far there isn't much scientific evidence to back any of this up, but I've seen stories on it featured on several newscasts (including the usually reputable Australian Broadcast Network) and now its filling up my Facebook feed.

Skeptical, I watched two separate videos on one of the more popular youtube channels 'ASMRrequests', both with millions of views and surprisingly I experienced.. nothing. Maybe lulled into some sort of peaceful meditation, but I could do that with some relaxing music anyway I think.

Has anyone else experienced these 'synthetic brain orgasms' or experimented with this ASMR stuff? I feel like its bunk, but would like to hear some other peoples opinions.
 
Autonomous sensory meridian response (or ASMR)

Interesting. I recall (many years ago) when I would close my eyes, and move one hand, finger extended, to "almost"
touch my forehead....and feel a "tingling sensation" IN my forehead.

(Of course....it was MY hand, MY body, and MY brain doing this...so was meaningless, in retrospect).
 
I've seen tricks like this in psych classes. They can work on some level* (usually with some priming the pump so you expect it to work) but there's nothing supernatural, your brain is just really easy to trick.


*-not the level that is often claimed, but it can still be shocking. There's one trick where you have a person hold their hand behind a barrier with a fake hand sticking out. Gently touch their hand and the fake one several times, then pound or stab only the fake one. People can experience convincingly real pain.
 
Supposedly watching these whispering ladies imaginarily massage you will induce "distinct, pleasurable tingling sensation in the head, scalp, back, or peripheral regions of the body in response to visual, auditory, tactile, olfactory, or cognitive stimuli.

I only watched five minutes and wanted to slap her, so I guess you would call that a fail from me. :p
 
Steven Novella's take:
http://theness.com/neurologicablog/index.php/asmr/

In any case it is plausible that a subset of the population has a particular pattern of neural hard wiring so that when they experience certain things that are typically quietly satisfying they get a little extra shot to their pleasure center. Once they experience this then they seek out greater and greater triggers of this response, and perhaps then a learning or conditioning component kicks in. Tufnell even describes getting a little addicted to seeking out ASMR stimuli.

What we need at this point are functional MRI and transcranial magnetic stimulation studies that look at what is happening in the brains of people while experiencing ASMR, vs typical controls. Are their brains really different, and in what way? I also wonder if the same or similar experience can be artificially induced in typical (non-ASMR) people.

This is just another example of how our brains are fantastically complex and weird. How else can you explain the existence of videos of whispering Latin and wrapping paper noise on YouTube.
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I don't think there's much to debunk here. Clearly people think they feel something, and there's a grey area between physical sensations and psychosomatic sensations.
 
At least the many (mostly) ladies who are making all these videos aren't charging people for the pleasure. I presume they make money from youtube adds.

Either way, now all my 'recommended for you' videos are ASMR ones :confused:
 
Been lurking these forums for a while but had to sign up after reading this.

I actually found out about this term ASMR after googling this curious sensation. Then finding out lot of other people also experince it. Like a tingling sensation in my head. Its hard to describe, its very pleasant.

When I was a young lad at high school I noticed it used to get triggered when someone was teaching or explaining something too me. I've since found out when reading about ASMR it was the whispering that was triggering it when someone was explaining stuff to me in class.

I've had it through my life triggered at weird times, wasnt till I googled it that i found out about this ASMR in the last 5 years or so.

These videos on youtube really work for me, some more than other. Usually the videos that are audio based, with the 3d sound people speaking into mics etc.
 
Autonomous sensory meridian response (or ASMR) is currently a trending type of online therapy flooding youtube. Supposedly watching these whispering ladies imaginarily massage you will induce "distinct, pleasurable tingling sensation in the head, scalp, back, or peripheral regions of the body in response to visual, auditory, tactile, olfactory, or cognitive stimuli." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autonomous_sensory_meridian_response

So far there isn't much scientific evidence to back any of this up, but I've seen stories on it featured on several newscasts (including the usually reputable Australian Broadcast Network) and now its filling up my Facebook feed.

Skeptical, I watched two separate videos on one of the more popular youtube channels 'ASMRrequests', both with millions of views and surprisingly I experienced.. nothing. Maybe lulled into some sort of peaceful meditation, but I could do that with some relaxing music anyway I think.

Has anyone else experienced these 'synthetic brain orgasms' or experimented with this ASMR stuff? I feel like its bunk, but would like to hear some other peoples opinions.
If someone told you they had given you a placebo would you still experience the effect?
You'd probably "experience nothing". This doesn't take away from the mountian of evidence piled up showing the effect is statistically real for reasons we still don't understand.
 
If someone told you they had given you a placebo would you still experience the effect?
You'd probably "experience nothing".
Actually, "open label" placebos still work:
http://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/placebo-can-work-even-know-placebo-201607079926

In one study, Kaptchuk looked at people with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), a common condition that causes abdominal cramping and diarrhea or constipation that can be debilitating for many. Half of the study volunteers were told they were getting an “open-label” placebo and the others got nothing at all. He found that there was a dramatic and significant improvement in the placebo group’s IBS symptoms, even though they were explicitly told they were getting a “sugar pill” without any active medication.
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Has anyone else experienced these 'synthetic brain orgasms' or experimented with this ASMR stuff? I feel like its bunk, but would like to hear some other peoples opinions.
I have a few friends who swear ASMR works for them. One of them even told me it would 'cure' my anxiety. I tried a few videos and felt nothing, still my normal self with my normal background level of anxiety. I googled it to see what, if anything, my friends were talking about and found a massive forum on reddit, with plenty of subforums for things like Japanese ASMR, Feminine ASMR and somewhat predictably what with the 'brain orgasm' claim, "NSFWASMR". Now, it needs to be said that it isn't all things like pretty women whispering, it appears. Things like paper crinkling seem to be huge with ASMR and, really surprisingly, Bob Ross videos. He's supposedly the king of ASMR. I guess I kind of get it with Bob Ross because he's so damn happy and calm (except for when he gets the mountains and the meadow PERFECT and then he puts a big tree right in the middle of it all and you're thinking NO BOB DON'T MESS IT UP) but paper crinkling and the like make me think that surely some people have some sort of reaction to it. Paper crinkling isn't exactly a noise or activity with a relaxing/soothing/sexy connotation, but ASMR folks love it. Maybe it's something like a sexual fetish where an item with no obvious/direct sexual connections like a shoe becomes a sexual object to some people for whatever reason?
 
and, really surprisingly, Bob Ross videos. He's supposedly the king of ASMR. I guess I kind of get it with Bob Ross because he's so damn happy and calm
I must have missed this thread the first time around. I think it's kinda a shame people are conflating (on reddit etc) general relaxation and meditative stimuli with "a tingly feeling" that is how this ASMR is described.
While the sensation is often described as euphoric in the media, only 35 per cent of the ASMR-experiencing respondents to Richard’s survey would describe it this way. Instead the most popular term used to describe it was “relaxing”, and 60 per cent said ASMR makes them feel sleepy, suggesting people are using the whispery videos to relax.
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https://www.newscientist.com/articl...-brain-orgasms-are-mysteriously-disappearing/

Bob Ross makes me feel sleepy and relaxed :)

There is a 'study', a small MRI investigation and a survey linked at the above article too to give some tentative insight
Psychologist Stephen Smith at the University of Winnipeg in Canada recently investigated ASMR by comparing fMRI brain-scans of people who experience the sensation with scans from volunteers who do not. He found that people with ASMR had more “cross-talk” between brain networks. The study was only small, but it offers the first clue as to how the wiring of our brains make some of us able to experience these mysterious tingles
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heres the abstract of the MRI one

An examination of the default mode network in individuals with autonomous sensory meridian response (ASMR).
Smith SD1, Katherine Fredborg B1, Kornelsen J2.
Author information

Abstract
Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response (ASMR) is a perceptual condition in which specific visual and auditory stimuli consistently trigger tingling sensations on the scalp and neck, sometimes spreading to the back and limbs. These triggering stimuli are often social, almost intimate, in nature (e.g., hearing whispering, or watching someone brush her hair), and often elicit a calm and positive emotional state. Surprisingly, despite its prevalence in the general population, no published study has examined the neural underpinnings of ASMR. In the current study, the default mode network (DMN) of 11 individuals with ASMR was contrasted to that of 11 matched controls. The results indicated that the DMN of individuals with ASMR showed significantly less functional connectivity than that of controls. The DMN of individuals with ASMR also demonstrated increased connectivity between regions in the occipital, frontal, and temporal cortices, suggesting that ASMR was associated with a blending of multiple resting-state networks. This atypical functional connectivity likely influences the unique sensory-emotional experiences associated with ASMR.

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I wonder if it is like "nails down a chalkboard". Some people seem to have a physical response to that. I don't unfortunately, so now im curious if there is "tingling" associated with that sound too?
 
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Well...Thought I'd give the OP video a try just to see for myself. Fell asleep within 10 minutes which is kinda frowned upon at work. So now my anxiety levels are somewhat higher then before. Having said that, it turns out that a gentle and attractive woman whispering sweet nothings into my ear is very relaxing. Who knew?!
 
This is incredible timing, because I didn't even know this was a "thing" until this showed up in my YouTube suggestions.


Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3QcjAmnDTos

The whole thing strikes me as... odd. As in I'm sure there are people who are relaxed by this (ok, I'm not sure I'm actually just guessing), but I imagine there are as many (or more- but still just guessing) people getting off on it. These are assertions made in a lifetime of talking to/knowing some creepy people and based on no actual facts that I can cite (and I don't necessarily mean to imply that people with kinks outside the norm are creepy, it really depends on the kink and how they go about acting on it). I think the phenom is too new to have real numbers, but in a couple of years it would be interesting to find out if more people watch ASMR videos for stress relief or for some kind of sexual gratification (again, not that there is anything necessarily wrong with that), and if the latter, how YouTube goes about monetizing those content creators.

Watching the video in the OP for as long as I could tolerate it, I was torn between wanting to giggle and wanting to scream. Yes, I am a 45 year old child.
 
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