Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response

[Faust]

I thought this was quite a funny use of the first person perspective, the video is a typical sketching video, lots of people have done them, the funny little twist(spoilers) at the end is when he holds up the finished Sketch, we are Bob Ross.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6KUjP9hL7I

[Pergamos]

My offspring is very into ASMR videos.  They make me feel kind of weird, but they are creepy enough that I can't watch one long enough to really evaluate my response without feeling gross so I don't quite understand what kind of weird.

They usually consist of a young woman whispering and doing things near the camera accompanied by the sounds those things might make. This includes things like shaving the viewer's face, massaging the viewer, or crumpling paper.  It's intimate in a way that is kind of uncomfortable for me, particularly in the company of my offspring.

[LuciferX]

This ASMR stuff should be approached with extreme prejudice. It's part of an ancient practice called Carezza, often practiced together with the waka-waka. Above my pay-grade, so I don't mess with it.

[Faust]

I had not heard of carezza, you mean this?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coitus_reservatus

For the same reason I don't find Massage Sexy, I don't find ASMR sexy. It puts me to sleep. It mellows out my anxieties and makes me forget that I am running in twenty different directions.

It is intimate though, very much so, and I can understand why you would feel uncomfortable around relatives Pergamos. I find those face touching, shaving videos a bit shocking, very invasive of personal space, not in a bad way but very sensitive and raw.

It is yet another facet of our daily lives that now has a digitised knock off, we can post opinions for validation, get our humour stories, escapism and pornography online, now we can also get intimate experience without the need for a connection to another person. I'm not sure if its a good or bad thing.

[rong]

When I get a hair cut, it takes every ounce of self control to not fly out of the chair when the clippers buzz around to back of my neck.  Is this ASMR?

[Faust]

When I get a hair cut, it takes every ounce of self control to not fly out of the chair when the clippers buzz around to back of my neck.  Is this ASMR?

Probably the same mechanism, neck is vulnrable and tender, do you get the same effect when listening to the virtual barbershop?
https://youtu.be/IUDTlvagjJA

[Kai]

I realized I reacted to ASMR videos several years ago. Not all of them, certainly not the head touching ones, but the page turning and paper crinkling ones were particularly effective. How could I not know this about myself for 30 years? Not that I buy any of the pseudo-science nonsense about why it's happening. Just another one of those weird things about humans that neurologists haven't figured out yet.

[Faust]

Not too many people attribute anything mystical to it, though some of the Woo and Reiki guys occasionally say there is. The effect appears to be linked to the way the brain constructs spacial awareness from sound/pressure stimuli. Why a tingling sensation I don't know, I've seen it suggested it's purpose is likely similar to the linkage between smell + memory but the exact purpose I haven't seen suggested.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

I'd still really love to get some fMRI sets of people having ASMR.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Although, my guess is that these people are already on it.

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17470919.2016.1188851

[PoFP]

Although, my guess is that these people are already on it.

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17470919.2016.1188851

I also can't wait for those ASMR-Active fMRI scans.

I find it interesting that the the pattern they found in the types of triggering stimuli is that they are generally socially-based/intimate. While I do have positive reactions to a few common ASMR videos/types, I've found that my strongest ASMR-type reaction involves no human-interaction whatsoever. It is largely triggered by music/specific thoughts, and after it's been triggered enough in a short period of time (After about 5-10 minutes), I'm able to trigger it manually without any external stimuli.

I imagine that difference in my experience could be related to addictive tendencies combined with LTP strengthening the connections they've isolated in the DMN of affected individuals.

[LuciferX]

I had not heard of carezza, you mean this?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coitus_reservatus

For the same reason I don't find Massage Sexy, I don't find ASMR sexy. It puts me to sleep. It mellows out my anxieties and makes me forget that I am running in twenty different directions.

[...]

Actually kind-of/sorta. Less Gnostic, more voodoo. Instead of focusing on conserving/extending final phases of intercourse, it is used much in the manner you describe to lull a potential partner into a compliant sense of affinity during initial phases. Probably the oldest trick in the book, maybe related to what the PUA bois have taken to call anchoring.

For it to be a normal expression of affection is just fine with me, however its calculated use to manipulate the feelings of others for personal gain, well that's another story. I expect proximity ASMR remote devices to be sold some time soon, if there isn't already an app for that, so we can all wontonly go about giving people indiscriminite chills to short-circuit the process of human bonding. Good times... Good times.