ASMR
An autonomous sensory meridian response (ASMR)[2][3][4] is a tingling sensation that usually begins on the scalp and moves down the back of the neck and upper spine.
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.
[16][17] 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".
[citation needed] 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.
[citation needed] 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.
[25] 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.
[30][1][16] 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.
[31] 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".
[32] 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.
[28] Clemens J. Setz suggests that a passage from the novel Mrs Dalloway, written by Virginia Woolf and published in 1925, describes something comparable:[33][34] A nursemaid speaks to a man who is her 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".
[25]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 (associated with social behaviors including grooming) and the secondary somatosensory cortex (associated with the sensation of touch) were activated more strongly during tingling periods than control periods.
Examples of unintentional media include British author John Butler[38] and American painter Bob Ross.
In this way it's similar to migraine headaches – we know they exist as a syndrome primarily because many different people report the same constellation of symptoms and natural history."
[60][61][62] The French word frisson signifies a brief sensation usually reported as pleasurable and often expressed as an overwhelming emotional response to stimuli, such as a piece of music.
Frisson often occurs simultaneously with piloerection, colloquially known as "goose bumps", by which tiny muscles called arrector pili contract, causing body hair, particularly that on the limbs and back of the neck, to erect or "stand on end".
[63][64][65][66] Although ASMR and frisson are "interrelated in that they appear to arise through similar physiological mechanisms", individuals who have experienced both describe them as qualitatively different, with different kinds of triggers.
[77][78] The first digital arts installation specifically inspired by ASMR was created by American artist Julie Weitz and called Touch Museum, which opened at the Young Projects Gallery on 13 February 2015 and comprised video screenings distributed throughout seven rooms.
[79] Subsequently, artists Sophie Mallett and Marie Toseland created 'a live binaural sound work' composed of ASMR triggers and broadcast by Resonance FM, the listings for which advised the audience to "listen with headphones for the full sensory effect".
[82][83] On 18 May 2015, contemporary composer Holly Herndon released an album called Platform, which included a collaboration with Tolan named "Lonely At The Top", intended to trigger ASMR.
[84][85][86][87][88][89][90][excessive citations] The track "Brush" from Holly Pester's 2016 album and poetry collection Common Rest featured Tolan, exploring ASMR and its relation to lullaby.
Dr. Spencer Reid is sent a video from the unknown suspect of him making the auditory recording that he then plays from his van outside each child's house to lure them out.
In season 7, episode 8 ("The Takeback") of the sitcom Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Jake Peralta pretends to be an excessively soft-spoken and famous ASMRtist, helping pull off a reverse heist to put back stolen gems.
[citation needed] In season 9, episode 3 ("Boxed In") of the show Beavis and Butt-Head, the two titular characters sit on their couch and watch a YouTube video featuring "Gibi ASMR".
When I was little, at school, the teacher's voice, creeping to the very top of my skull, my limp hands...The Idiot's Guide series has one book on ASMR written by Julie Young and ASMRtist Ilse Blansert (aka TheWaterwhispers), published in 2015.
[108] In 2021, writer and filmmaker Laura Nagy released Pillow Talk, an Audible Original podcast, detailing her personal experience in the world of ASMR relationship role-play as an antidote to loneliness and a coping mechanism for anxiety and trauma.
[109] In 2020, the first major exhibition on ASMR, Weird Sensation Feels Good, took place at Sweden's ArkDes architecture and design museum.
