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Autonomous sensory meridian response (ASMR) is claimed biological phenomenon, popularized through internet culture such as blogs and online videos. Professor Tom Stafford of the University of Sheffield, says "It might well be a real thing, but it's inherently difficult to research." By those who say they are affected by AMSR, it is described as a distinct tingling sensation often felt in the head, scalp or peripheral regions of the body in response to various visual and auditory stimuli.

Reception

Professor Tom Stafford, an expert in psychology and cognitive sciences from the University of Sheffield, was quoted in The Independent as saying

It might well be a real thing, but it's inherently difficult to research. The inner experience is the point of a lot of psychological investigation, but when you've got something like this that you can't see or feel, and it doesn't happen for everyone, it falls into a blind spot. It's like synaesthesia – for years it was a myth, then in the 1990s people came up with a reliable way of measuring it.

Background

Neuroscience

In the human nervous system, a type of excitable called a neuron functions as part of a complex and organized communication system for receiving one or more environmental stimulus and then assimilating, recording and utilizing this information for immediate and intended behavior. The human brain executes many complex functions including perception, emotion, language, memory and consciousness and the study of these higher order brain functions offers new ways of understanding complex features of behavior.

The cerebral cortex is responsible for an individual's conscious mind, the ability to plan, communicate, remember, learn, understand as well as the ability to initiate and control voluntary movements and one's Self-awareness. Sensation, or perception is the conscious awareness of the effects of stimuli on sensory receptors.

• The prefrontal cortex constitutes the association area for many of the complex intellectual and moral functions demonstrated by humans.
• The primary somatosensory cortex involves sensations associated with touch such as stroking, texture, vibration, skin stretch, itch and even visceral senses such as pain and pressure. An abnormal sensation known as paresthesia evoked by electrical stimulation in the postcentral gyrus and posterior paracentral lobule of conscious humans involve numbness and tingling on different areas of the body.Other abnormalities include a type of thermal or painful phenomenon called an aura (symptom) which foreshadows the onset of an epileptic seizure; sensory Jacksonian seizures describe localizable, cutaneous sensations without apparent prior stimulation and are perceivable by conscious patients who claim that the sensation spreads or progresses to nearby cutaneous regions along an arm or leg or elsewhere in the body and result from an abnormal neuronal firing in the postcentral gyrus, reflecting propagation of epileptic discharge.

• A neural network commonly referred to as the limbic system has an important role in emotional and behavioral processing.

Possibly relevant research

Autonomic Nervous System

The autonomic nervous system is defined as the general visceral efferent part of the human nervous system and includes autonomic neurons and their associated ganglia that collectively innervate nonstriated muscle, cardiac mucle, and exocrine glands. It is also known to function in relation to the emotional state of an individual. Research on how the autonomic nervous system responds to emotion indicate distinct changes in physiological variables such as cardiovascular, respiratory and electrodermal response. In these types of studies certain triggers, or experimental paradigms induced distinctive emotional responses in the subjects, most commonly involving film clips, imagery, personalized recall, real-life actions, musical excerpts, directed facial action, odorants and threatening situations. Psychological knowledge of experience and behavioral responses associated with ANS activity were based on popular consensuses and logical observations of how people respond to different stimuli. An appropriate trigger was used to invoke the associated emotion, such as showing grotesque, gory photos to induce disgust or harassing a subject to induce anger. Both emotion and intellectual decisions are cortical in origin, and it is apparent that these cortical influences exert control through regulation of the autonomic nervous system. Many studies relate the autonomic nervous system to different emotional states as well as the wide variety of environmental stimuli involved in the overall response of somebody.

Somatosensation

The somatosensory system is generally thought to respond to physical stimuli such as touch, temperature, proprioception and nociception. However, a recent review of literature concerning somatosensation with respect to social perception suggests that the brain includes a somatosensory dimension for perceiving the actions of others. It has been found that people are capable of experience a response from the motor system while observing the actions of another person through a process known as vicarious activation which has been defined as 'activation of a brain region that is normally involved in processing the observer's own actions and sensations but now is activated by seeing similar actions or sensations in another person' Studies found that observing the action of somebody else activated the same brain region activated in the person involved in the action, as if the observer was simulating the action. This may help to explain why people may react aversely to witnessing somebody else being harmed. Conclusions from this literature found that the primary somatosensory cortex, Brodmann area 3, is responsible for signals from an individual's body but the second Brodmann area 1 and third Brodmann area 2 cortical somatosensory processing stages are able to be vicariously activated during the sight of other people being touched, performing actions or experiencing somatic pain.

Possible neural basis

Interoception

The physical state of an individual's body includes perceived feelings of temperature, pain, itch, tickle, sensual touch, muscular and visceral sensations, vasomotor flush, hunger, thirst and more. The feelings from the body relate our state of well-being, energy and stress levels, mood and disposition.

Mirror neuron system

A special type of visuomotor neurons, called mirror neurons, were originally discovered in the premotor cortex of monkeys. These neurons were found to discharge when the monkey did a certain action and also when it observed the same or similar action performed by another monkey or human. Findings from neuroimaging studies indicate a selective mapping in the human mirror neuron system. One of the critical features of the mirror system is selective mapping of specific heard or seen actions onto the motor programs for executing the same actions.

Mirror-touch synesthesia

One type of synesthesia, is conveyed in people who experience a vivid sensation of touch on their own body when they see the body of another person being touched. These people, called 'mirror-touch' synaesthetes are known to score higher on empathy questionnaires than non-mirror touch synesthetes. This suggests that vicarious activation in somatosensory brain regions allows someone to determine what it may feel like when observing others being touched and the vividness with which one might empathically share other people's physical experiences.

Auditory mirror system

The discovery of auditory mirror neurons in monkeys led to investigation of an analogous system in humans. Consistent with the theory that mirror neurons map the observed action onto the motor program for executing the same or similar action, it has been suggested that sound is also able to influence an individual's motor program. An auditory mirror neuron system works by allowing the organism to listen to a sound and understand the action of that sound.

Chills

Chills are a type of sensation, like goosebumps or shivers, that accompany strong emotion. Definitions of the chills vary among researchers including descriptions such as "a subtle nervous tremor caused by intense emotion". : a feeling of goose bumps , tingling and shivers' (Nusbaum & Silvia, 2011, p. 199); and 'the tingly somatosensory feeling that can be evoked by certain kinds of music' The chills have also been defined as "a set of bodily sensations—shivers, goosebumps, tingling, and coldness—that accompany emotion."

In popular culture

A conference in the UK (Boring 2012) mentioned ASMR videos on their list for topics to be discussed. Articles in The Huffington Post suggest certain types of triggers for evoking the ASMR effect. The articles mention pleasant tingling or buzzing sensations felt in the head and claim that certain triggers such as videos on YouTube or hearing people whispering stimulate the sensation. Other types of triggers may include goal-oriented tasks, soft-speaking, role-playing or music.

See also

• Cold chill
• Affective neuroscience
• Psychophysics
• Psychophysiology
• Psychodynamics
• Psychophysics
• Empathy
• List of unexplained sounds
• Euphoria
• Ecstasy (emotion)
• Flow (psychology)
• Altered states of consciousness
• Somatopsychic

External links

• Marsden, Rhodri, 'Maria spends 20 minutes folding towels': Why millions are mesmerised by ASMR videos
• Parsons, Chris, 'Boring 2012' conference becomes complete sell-out
• Shropshall, Claire, Braingasms and Towel Folding - The ASMR Effect
• Tufnell, Nicholas, ASMR: Orgasms for Your Brain