Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response (ASMR): a flow-like mental state

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Introduction

Materials and Methods

Participants

Method

Section 1—demographics

Section 2—viewing habits

Section 3—triggers

Section 4—location

Section 5—‘Why do you watch ASMR videos?’

Section 6—flow state scale

Section 7—Effect on mood and chronic pain

Data analysis

Results

Why engage in ASMR?

Common triggers

Analysis of responses found four prominent categories of triggers, each experienced by over 50% of participants. These triggers are whispering (75%), personal attention (69%), crisp sounds (64%) and slow movements (53%). 34% of participants also reported that their ASMR was triggered by watching repetitive tasks. Triggers less commonly associated with ASMR media (smiling, vacuum cleaner noise, aeroplane noise, and laughing) were included for comparison. Each of these non-triggers were in each case reported to be effective by less than 3% of participants. These values are illustrated in Table 2. Some individuals reported only being triggered by new viewing material, in which they are unable to predict which trigger will be presented next.

Experience of ASMR

Medications which affect ASMR

Effect on mood

Effect on chronic pain

Flow state

Familial links

Synaesthesia

Discussion

Uplifting mood and pain relief

Obtaining flow state

Links with synaesthesia

Future directions for research

Conclusions

Supplemental Information

Appendix: Original Questionnaire

DOI: 10.7717/peerj.851/supp-1

Responses to original questionnaire (CSV format)

DOI: 10.7717/peerj.851/supp-2

E-mail elaborations of synaesthetic experiences

DOI: 10.7717/peerj.851/supp-3

Additional Information and Declarations

Competing Interests

The authors declare there are no competing interests.

Author Contributions

Emma L. Barratt conceived and designed the experiments, performed the experiments, analyzed the data, contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools, wrote the paper, prepared figures and/or tables, reviewed drafts of the paper.

Nick J. Davis analyzed the data, contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools, wrote the paper, prepared figures and/or tables, reviewed drafts of the paper.

Human Ethics

The following information was supplied relating to ethical approvals (i.e., approving body and any reference numbers):

Swansea University Department of Psychology Ethics Committee. Approval received via electronic statement: “Your proposed study ‘An investigation into Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response as self-medication,’ has been reviewed and is approved. Provided that the information obtained is kept absolutely confidential and that no personally identifiable information is entered on computer, you may proceed with your studies.”

Funding

The authors declare there was no funding for this work.

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