ASMR - Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response

**tommo** · 07-24-2012 03:24 AM

Originally Posted by snoop

I find it interesting that so many people have this triggered by music and whispers. None of those videos do anything for me.

Me either. The video I just posted only works on the part where she's scratching the microphones. You need both headphones on otherwise it didn't do much.

And yeah, I sort of have to give the subtle conscious effort too. In fact I can do it by just using my mind.

Can't remember whether I posted this before, but here is an explanation.

People who become euphoric over music unleash dopamine, a brain chemical that also induces the sense of reward that comes from food, psychoactive drugs and money, a new study says. McGill University researchers in Montreal, Canada, recruited eight volunteers aged 19-24 among 217 people who responded to advertisements requesting people who experienced ‘chills’ - a marker of extreme pleasure - when listening to music.
After careful selection, the volunteers were put into a positron emission tomography (PET) scanner, which is able to spot a tagged chemical, raclopride, that works on dopamine receptors in brain cells.
Neutral music leaves listeners emotionally cold
They were also wired up to sensors that measured them for heartbeat, respiration, temperature and skin conductance.
Listening to their favourite piece of spine-tingling music, the volunteers showed a rush of physical activity and also unlocked a release of dopamine in the striatum area of the brain. The effect occurred even in anticipation, before the ‘chill’ peak occurred.
But no such dopamine surge was seen when the volunteers listened to neutral music which, previous tests showed, was known to leave them emotionally cold.
Discovering music’s exclusive appeal
Seeking to find out more, the scientists then put the volunteers in a frequency magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scanner, which highlights flows of blood in the head, thus showing which part of the brain is being activated.
A part of the striatum known as the caudate was involved during the anticipation phase. But during the peak emotional response, a different striatum area known as the nucleus accumbens was involved.
The results shed light on the exclusive regard that humans have for music, say the researchers.

http://www.cosmosmagazine.com/news/3...same-chemicals

And I find this bit extremely interesting:
One possible explanation for this is because of the emotions invoked by music - "expectations, delay, tension, resolution, prediction, surprise and anticipation," among others.

Maybe we just love music so much because it contains those elements. And the reason we listen to it so much is it's readily available.
I remember going to a play last year, and I felt that surge far more powerfully than most of the times I'm listening to my favourite music.
And plays definitely have all those elements.

As another aside, it also sort of reminds me of the relief you get after you carry out an OCD thing.

**Marvo** · 07-24-2012 12:23 PM

I don't think you're experiencing ASMR. It sounds a lot more like frisson to me, or some other thing.

I'm saying this, because ASMR is nothing like getting chills. It's an extremely distinct sensation.

**tommo** · 07-25-2012 06:35 AM

You still get sensations in your spine/neck.

**Marvo** · 07-25-2012 12:48 PM

Originally Posted by tommo

You still get sensations in your spine/neck.

Well that, but also the back of the head, a little above the neck. That's where the sensation is the most pronounced for me, and from what I've read, a lot of other people.
Could be that we are simply confusing each other, the greatest challenge in this stuff is to put proper words on what we are trying to explain.

But basically, music is very rarely an ASMR trigger, so your music explanation is kind of pointless here. ASMR is not an emotional sensation, it's physical.

edit: watch this video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7VJ4lP-05A

This will cause a reaction in you, most likely. This is called frisson.

**tommo** · 07-25-2012 03:49 PM

Love that game. Didn't get it from that though. I do get it from Sigur Ros.

The reason I use that study is that I think ASMR is just a dopamine surge.
I get the same feeling which people would think is the chill/shiver thing if I described it, but it's not. I also get it if I hold off on doing an OCD ritual and then do it. And OCD is connected to dopamine as well. And since all of those feel the same as when listening to some ASMR videos....
It's pleasurable and doesn't make me shiver, it's more a constant thing rather than tingly.

You say it's not emotional though, which makes me wonder if you're just experiencing the chills. Everyone else says they feel pleasure from it.

I agree though, no one seems to be able to explain it very accurately, which makes it hard to pin down.

**Marvo** · 07-25-2012 06:23 PM

When I say "not emotional", I mean I don't feel sad or happy from it directly, it's just a pleasurable feeling. Obviously that makes me happy, or well, satisfied, but the feeling itself does not feel connected to any emotions in my opinion.

**Abra** · 07-25-2012 06:30 PM

"Let's talk about [long biology acronym]."

(does not define acronym in first post)

gj, OP.

**Linkzelda** · 07-26-2012 06:45 AM

Originally Posted by Abra

"Let's talk about [long biology acronym]."

(does not define acronym in first post)

gj, OP.

You can't really set out a definition for said long acronym, especially when people are clustered fucked how it actually feels like.

Lulz

Ambiguity for the win!

Sorry if I made you type a long acronym. :c

EDIT:

WHY ARE YOU GIVING OP credit instead of me on a job well done!!?

(Omnis, you are a genius).

**Wolfwood** · 07-26-2012 11:16 AM

General post.

Where you feel the tingles is unimportant, the question is: how does it make you feel?

It should be highly parasympathetic.... you feel relaxed and zombiefied, trance-like. If you feel excited or motivated in any way, then it's indicative of sympathetic nervous system activation... and so isn't ASMR (more likely to be frission or cold/fear shivers etc).

In fact, if you've experienced ASMR, you'll be able to easily distinguish between three sensations: frisson, ASMR, and the shiver feeling from cold or fear. All very clearly different -- if you can't notice a distinct difference, then obviously you've not experienced ASMR. Simple really.

Excited (sympathetic) = not ASMR (typically from epic music and epic battles; intense moments and anticipation).
Relaxed (parasympathetic) = ASMR (typically from meticulous stuff or what some may even consider boring).

As you can see, they're functionally disparate.

**tommo** · 07-26-2012 03:12 PM

Frisson is the cold chills/tingly spine feeling. At least according to wikipedia.

**Wolfwood** · 07-26-2012 03:51 PM

Yeah, I meant shivering, which is different to frisson.

"Frisson..... unlike shivering, however, it is not caused by temperature, menopause, or anxiety but rather is an emotionally triggered response when one is deeply affected by things such as music,[2] speech[3] or recollection."

Whether there's much difference between those two isn't particularly important. The important point is that relaxed (parasympathetic) = ASMR, and excited (sympathetic) = not ASMR. Both frisson (excited) and ASMR (relaxed) are great, but very different.

A lot of the ASMR video watchers have insomnia or sleep issues and use those videos to help induce sleep through relaxation. Contrast that with listening to your favourite epic music... the last thing you want to do is sleep; the response is exciting and empowering. Though both result in what you'd call a tingling sensation, each sensation feels qualitatively different to the other, and each accompanies a different resulting state (relaxed/tired/trance-like or excited/motivated/empowered).

Heh, I'm repeating myself as usual. But you get the gist.

**Abra** · 07-26-2012 05:09 PM

Alright, I know what ASMR is. I feel it for a full 30 minutes whenever I get a haircut. Or when someone else brushes my hair (sadly, a rare occurrence these days), or gives me a back massage (a much more common one. :3).

And, well, some music (good n' swelly classical). But it's usually not as intense or reliable as the physical contact triggers.

**snoop** · 07-26-2012 06:46 PM

30 minutes? Good jesus, lasts at most 10 to 20 seconds for me

**tommo** · 07-27-2012 05:27 AM

See, during a haircut would be frisson. I don't care about this topic too much.
But no one here knows what the fuck anyone is actually talking about. Which does make this seem a little pointless.

**Wolfwood** · 07-27-2012 11:42 AM

lol, true enough. It's one of those things that once you've experienced you're certain of it. It's almost like trying to discuss qualia.

**Marvo** · 07-27-2012 04:58 PM

Originally Posted by tommo

See, during a haircut would be frisson. I don't care about this topic too much.
But no one here knows what the fuck anyone is actually talking about. Which does make this seem a little pointless.

Haircut isn't always frisson. People touching my hair is an ASMR trigger for me, just like massages are.

**Abra** · 07-27-2012 05:05 PM

Originally Posted by Marvo

Haircut isn't always frisson. People touching my hair is an ASMR trigger for me, just like massages are.

Yeah I'm p. sure it's not frission. It's not a spine tingle at all. Or cold chills.

Of course, it would've been neat if all these terms were defined in the first post or something, so we wouldn't have to google a term that's fresh on the lexicon (seriously, the second link is "know your meme") and still being researched/scientifically defined.

**Marvo** · 07-27-2012 07:09 PM

I really hope some scientists will pick up on ASMR and do some research. Would be nice with a guy like LaBerge.

**Zhaylin** · 07-27-2012 07:49 PM

This is all so extremely interesting but even more confusing to me.
I thought such shivers were common for everyone. I've always thought of them as either a physical or emotional reaction to some external stimuli. I get them frequently so I must be experiencing something very different.

Getting my hair cut or people lightly touching certain spots on my body (shoulders in particular) trigger massive shivers. I've always thought that's a physical response to the movement. The body has lots of tiny hairs that are extremely sensitive. Moving them gently could change your perception of temperature etc (?) which causes the shiver?
I get massive "goosebumps" (which start at the base of my neck it seems) while listening to certain sounds or music. I've always written it off as an emotional reaction.

Watching people do things does absolutely nothing for me. BUT, I thought it was extremely interesting that when I watched the video of the person tracing shapes with the sharpie, I SMELLED the sharpie. But as soon as I noticed, it went away. I'm not aware of that ever having happening (happened?) before.

Thank you, Wolfwood for further breaking it down. Most of the time, the shivers invigorate me. Not physically though, it's more a creative or spiritual awakening sort of feeling. Other tingles though (like hair cuts) relax me immensely. I just wrote it off as being a relaxing and pleasurable activity.

Whispers drive me insane. I could barely tolerate those videos. But some of them would give me the beginnings of a tingle (a slight tightening sort of feeling that dies there), but I wrote that off on the sensual nature of the speech.

So, I asked my son, my hubby and his daughter if they get prolonged goosebumps from watching activities or from music. They looked at me like I was crazy and my hubby said "I call BS" :crackle: My son says he gets them a little but usually only if some intense music is accompanied by something visual. My step-daughter admitted the same.

That's very curious to me. I thought it was common among everyone lol.

As for bringing them on without help. I can rarely. But it makes me sad. The physically triggered ones depress me as well. They make me feel lonely so I usually avoid them and pretty much all touch.

I'm also curious about the "mirrors" mentioned. Doesn't everyone feel the emotions of other people to one degree or another? But isn't it just a matter of reading body language and micro-expressions?

**Abra** · 07-27-2012 08:42 PM

Originally Posted by Marvo

I really hope some scientists will pick up on ASMR and do some research. Would be nice with a guy like LaBerge.

Nah, if LaBerge picked up research again, it'd probably be more dream sex stuff.

Originally Posted by Stephen LaBerge

Mmm, sleep paralysis erectionssss...

**Marvo** · 07-27-2012 09:28 PM

Originally Posted by Abra

Nah, if LaBerge picked up research again, it'd probably be more dream sex stuff.

Haha, by LaBerge I simply meant a guy who sees past all the occult and paranormal stuff, and simply focuses on what is real.

**Abra** · 07-27-2012 11:57 PM

Originally Posted by Marvo

Haha, by LaBerge I simply meant a guy who sees past all the occult and paranormal stuff, and simply focuses on what is real.

I know. I was purposely misinterpreting you, dear. ´･ω･`

**Wolfwood** · 07-28-2012 02:45 AM

Anyone got an EEG in their shed/loft?

Originally Posted by Zhaylin

Watching people do things does absolutely nothing for me. BUT, I thought it was extremely interesting that when I watched the video of the person tracing shapes with the sharpie, I SMELLED the sharpie. But as soon as I noticed, it went away. I'm not aware of that ever having happening (happened?) before.

Visual stimuli evoking an olfactory response = synaesthesia. ^_^

**Marvo** · 01-30-2013 07:27 PM

Originally Posted by Wolfwood

Anyone got an EEG in their shed/loft?

Visual stimuli evoking an olfactory response = synaesthesia. ^_^

Not really.

Bumping this thread, since ASMR seems to become more popular for each passing day. There's an article on Wikipedia now, although it's not particularly great. I hope it won't take decades for science to investigate this phenomenon, like with synaesthesia.

**Kuhnada29** · 01-31-2013 04:57 PM

Your an emotional being. I've had this happen also, where you just kind of bliss out and feel real good while listening to music. The physical sensations your getting means your actually "feeling the music". One of the perks of being able to "feel" and being real

This is a natural human response to feel good when listening to music. Relax and enjoy

It's not just music you can feel either..you can actually feel another human beings energy also.

I feel blissed out just sitting here lol