Jun 12, 2021 06:54 PM
(This post was last modified: Jun 12, 2021 07:10 PM by C C.)
https://www.mcgill.ca/oss/article/health...l-whispers
EXCERPT: . . . The four letters that represent both the tingles and the content meant to generate these tingles are ASMR. The initialism was coined in 2010 by Jennifer Allen, who played a large role in bringing awareness to this strange phenomenon. She told an interviewer she wanted to give it a name that was objective, clinical even, and a name that was definitely not tied to sex. Indeed, even though naïve observers of ASMR videos might infer that something deeply sexual is happening, the vast majority of the 475 survey respondents in the first peer-reviewed paper on ASMR were categorical: they did not use ASMR for sexual stimulation. Its purpose was relaxation, sleep, and stress reduction.
ASMR stands for “autonomous sensory meridian response.” “Autonomous” because it just happens, it’s not a choice. “Sensory” because it relates to the senses. The word “meridian” is in there to mean peaks of emotion. So it’s an autonomous response that gives a peak experience involving the senses, a “brain orgasm” as it is colloquially known. In people who experience ASMR (because not everyone does), things like whispers, personal attention, crisp sounds, slow movements, and repetitive tasks like hair brushing trigger a sustained tingling sensation that usually starts on the head and can also involve the neck, shoulders, and sometimes the lower back, arms and legs. It is a pleasant sensation that is at once calming and arousing, although once again not in a sexual way.
The ecosystem of ASMRtists—people who produce content (usually video) for the express purpose of triggering ASMR in their audience—is vast and as weird as human nature itself. In its most basic form, an ASMR video consists of a host, usually young, picking up an object and tapping it in different ways close to their microphones. The goal is to plunge the viewer, usually wearing headphones in a darkened room, into a soundscape of intimacy and of repetitive sounds, so that the relaxing tingles can be triggered and relieve stress. More elaborate videos deliver these soft sounds in the context of whispered role-playing.
For people who have never experienced ASMR (including myself), it might seem very strange but the phenomenon’s popularity cannot be denied. Top ASMR YouTubers get millions of views on their videos. On January 1 of this year, the word “ASMR” was the #2 searched term on YouTube in the United States, above “music.” Worldwide, it came in at #3, after searches for Korean boy band BTS and for YouTuber PewDiePie.
In the face of such a massive happening, scientists took notice. But studying the differences between the brains of the tingle haves and the tingle have-nots is not as easy as it sounds...(MORE - details)
https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/WYCrR479nCs
EXCERPT: . . . The four letters that represent both the tingles and the content meant to generate these tingles are ASMR. The initialism was coined in 2010 by Jennifer Allen, who played a large role in bringing awareness to this strange phenomenon. She told an interviewer she wanted to give it a name that was objective, clinical even, and a name that was definitely not tied to sex. Indeed, even though naïve observers of ASMR videos might infer that something deeply sexual is happening, the vast majority of the 475 survey respondents in the first peer-reviewed paper on ASMR were categorical: they did not use ASMR for sexual stimulation. Its purpose was relaxation, sleep, and stress reduction.
ASMR stands for “autonomous sensory meridian response.” “Autonomous” because it just happens, it’s not a choice. “Sensory” because it relates to the senses. The word “meridian” is in there to mean peaks of emotion. So it’s an autonomous response that gives a peak experience involving the senses, a “brain orgasm” as it is colloquially known. In people who experience ASMR (because not everyone does), things like whispers, personal attention, crisp sounds, slow movements, and repetitive tasks like hair brushing trigger a sustained tingling sensation that usually starts on the head and can also involve the neck, shoulders, and sometimes the lower back, arms and legs. It is a pleasant sensation that is at once calming and arousing, although once again not in a sexual way.
The ecosystem of ASMRtists—people who produce content (usually video) for the express purpose of triggering ASMR in their audience—is vast and as weird as human nature itself. In its most basic form, an ASMR video consists of a host, usually young, picking up an object and tapping it in different ways close to their microphones. The goal is to plunge the viewer, usually wearing headphones in a darkened room, into a soundscape of intimacy and of repetitive sounds, so that the relaxing tingles can be triggered and relieve stress. More elaborate videos deliver these soft sounds in the context of whispered role-playing.
For people who have never experienced ASMR (including myself), it might seem very strange but the phenomenon’s popularity cannot be denied. Top ASMR YouTubers get millions of views on their videos. On January 1 of this year, the word “ASMR” was the #2 searched term on YouTube in the United States, above “music.” Worldwide, it came in at #3, after searches for Korean boy band BTS and for YouTuber PewDiePie.
In the face of such a massive happening, scientists took notice. But studying the differences between the brains of the tingle haves and the tingle have-nots is not as easy as it sounds...(MORE - details)
