For years I have experienced a strange, hard to describe, sensation in my body and my head whenever I thought of the sound of a fan or when my hair was being played with. These thoughts and activities would give me what I thought were chills, and the hair on the back of my neck would raise, including goose bumps. Whenever a friend would ask me what was wrong, I would just reply with, “I make myself cold when I think of ice cubes”. Of course, this sounded odd, but how was I supposed to explain this weird, pleasurable feeling they were causing without creeping anyone out? It was not until under a year ago I came across Youtube channels labeled “ASMR” with titles describing role playing as eye doctors, hair dressers, whispering fortune tellers and so on! This was very odd, yet as many good Youtube addicts do, I obviously had to click the link and find out.
Many descriptions in the users’ videos do explain what ASMR is and even go into detail on the subject. From what I have gathered from those descriptions over time is that ASMR is not technically a proven… thing. In fact, I have trouble finding any research on it in EBSCO Host and Google Scholar. We do not quite understand exactly what it is or how it works, but studies are still being done since this feeling does occur in numerous individuals, and we want to understand how it works.
Well let’s start with what it is characterized as. ASMR is described to be a tingling sensation from the head, spreading down the spine and outward towards the limbs, caused by a trigger. According to ASMR Research and Support (2013), there is a Type A, internal, and a Type B, external triggers. Type A involves thoughts, such as thinking about the sound of a hair dryer and you feel tingles and may even grow tired. Type B is the external activity causing the effect, such as going to the hair dressers and feeling tingles as they comb through your hair. Every individual is unique and may experience different levels of both of these triggers. Unfortunately, ASMR Research and Support is still ongoing and looking for participants to gather and interpret the data for later explanation on the topic, so there is not a lot of information that has been gathered yet (ASMR Research and Support, 2013).
Then what have we gathered on how it might work? Could it be a release of dopamine or endorphins? How do the visual, physical, or verbal stimuli trigger such a strange response that always leads from our head down our spine? The nervous system, more specifically, neurons must be a part of this in my opinion. Similar responses are seen in individuals but through different stimuli, so how can these different forms of activity be sent in to the body causing similar reactions? I imagine the information being taken in by our sensory neurons as electrical information, traveling toward the interneuron, and reaching our motor neurons and pleasure center of the brain, causing the physical response. Perhaps it is also caused by the hormones from our Pineal glands. But some individuals experience the sensation more strongly than others while some do not experience any feeling at all. If the effect of ASMR is different for everyone, including the types of triggers that may work for some or may be different for others, then would that not mean we are all wired uniquely? I think maybe it is due to a difference in excitatory and inhibitory neural circuits in the body, but this still does not explain why hearing exams can be done using standardized tests to compare the ability of an individual’s level of hearing. I have learned in my Sensation and Perception class using the Signal Detection Theory that we all observe the same stimuli, but we perceive it differently, often caused by different response biases, such as one individual being conservative, meaning they are likely to say they do not hear the stimuli when they are unsure, and liberal, where an individual is more likely to say yes if they are unsure. The participants’ chances of guessing correctly or incorrectly were still 50/50, however, showing their hearing was very close, yet they gave different answers. Could this be related to the experiences shared by those with the tingles? But then how is it that some individuals do not feel anything or sometimes they do, but over time it goes away?
In Harry Cheadle ‘s (2012) blog post, ASMR, the Good Feeling No One Can Explain, he says that the only information you will find on it is from minor websites created by those who have experienced it themselves. Cheadle also explains that there have been many skeptics, to the point where an entry on Wikipedia was even taken down for lack of scientific evidence, but we cannot just say it does not exist if thousands are reporting the same experience. Alas, there is still no answer from this writer who made contact with several professional Neurologists, those in charge of experimental research, and even ASMRers.
Even Neurologist, Steven Novella (2012), could not come up with an answer. He mentions how he too has searched this topic expansively, where zero peer-reviewed articles have been found mainly due to this topic’s continuing research. His guess, however, is considering small seizures which can be caused by what we hear and can feel good. His other hypothesis considers the diversity of individuals’ brains. If we all have our own personalities, like our own things, choose differently, and so on, so it makes sense that we would have different responses to the ASMR’s stimulus. Novella refers to the pleasure response; our brains react to pain and pleasure in different ways, and we have a uniquely evolved form of feedbacks meant to help us survive. So are we tampering with that natural system, is my next question?
Many people experience this tingling sensation, including myself, yet it has not been proven to exist through scientific evidence. Neurologists, Psychologists, doctors, those currently studying the phenomenon, and even the ASMRers themselves have no idea on how it works. There are many theories out there, including my own, and still so many questions. What do you think about ASMR? Youtube ASMR and try it for yourself!
References
Allen, J. (2013). Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response. Retrieved from ASMR Research & Support website: http://www.asmr- research.org/
Cheadle, Harry. (2012). ASMR, the Good Feeling No One Can Explain [Web log post]. Retrieved from http://www.vice.com /read/asmr-the-good-feeling-no-one-can-explain
Novella, Steven. (2012, March 12). ASMR [Web log post]. Retrieved from http://theness.com/neurologicablog/index.php/asmr/
Kate 