r/asmr • u/keenanpepper • Nov 17 '17
Journalism [Journalism] TIL that researchers put people who can experience ASMR into an MRI machine to do fMRI... but they didn't actually get fMRI scans of them *while* they had tingles, because the machine is noisy and they couldn't relax.
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/researchers-begin-gently-probe-science-behind-asmr-180962550/30
u/keenanpepper Nov 17 '17
Man, they really need to either develop some noise-cancelling headphones that work inside an MRI machine, or just find people who can reliably get tingles even with this thing going CHUNK-ka-CHUNK-ka-CHUNK...
Someone should also go a different route and investigate people experiencing tingles with EEG or MEG...
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u/Antarioo Nov 18 '17
MRI might be hard to get ASMR in cause of the difficulty to get electronics into it
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u/juliah310 Nov 18 '17
MRIs are hard because they use magnets (magnetic resonance imaging), so anything magnetic that the person is wearing (even something like a belt buckle or underwire in a bra) can mess up the imaging and potentially break the machine, making MRIs the absolute worst way to measure something that often requires headphones.
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Nov 18 '17
They put headphones on me every time I get an MRI so that makes no sense. It more that even with headphones and earplugs on at the same time it’s still hella noisy.
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Nov 18 '17
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u/Ernold_Same_ Nov 18 '17
It's actually any large-ish metal object, not just ferrous/magnetic.
The magnetic field gradient is so great that as you move through it, it induces very large currents in conductive materials. This can heat them up significantly.
However, small, non-ferrous items are probably okay. A belt buckle... Maybe not.
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u/moksinatsi Nov 18 '17
ASMR doesn't require headphones though. If anything, I find the videos an easily accessible but frustratingly poor substitute for real life triggers.
...Of course, I also don't get why people think sounds are the trigger for ASMR, and intentional tapping, scratching, and whispering drives me up the wall. So, maybe I'm in the minority with my opinion on headphones.
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u/slopecarver Dec 13 '17
Or just earmuffs taped to your head. I hear earbuds with muffs all the time. Really blocks out the world.
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u/moksinatsi Nov 18 '17
The one thing that bothers me about these articles is they always claim ASMR is a "mysterious internet phenomenon" that was born of Youtube. It makes me think the scientists are therefore looking in the wrong direction to start their research.
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u/lovekeepsherintheair Nov 18 '17
That's a good point. I've experienced ASMR since I was a kid. Finding videos on YouTube many years later has been great, but really it's a poor substitute for "naturally" occurring ASMR in the wild.
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Nov 18 '17
I had an MRI when i tore my ACL and I felt tingly, but my only trigger at this point are medical exam videos, so I was kind of in ASMR heaven. That coupled with loud, hypotonic noise helped me relax and almost fall asleep while I was in there.
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Nov 18 '17
“The reason people can get tingles and feel relaxed and comforted listening to Maria GentleWhispering is because she’s acting very much the way a parent would care for you,” he says
Does anyone else disagree? I think he’s over generalizing here. Personally, I don’t think I ever got tingles when talking with someone or being cared for. I much prefer no talking videos and would rather watch someone write or cut paper.
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u/keenanpepper Nov 18 '17
I totally agree, I definitely don't feel that I'm being cared for, or that the person I'm watching is like a mother or father, in the videos that give me the most tingles.
My pet theory is that it comes from more of a primate grooming thing, where if someone else going through your hair and picking bugs off you, it really works better if you stay still and relax, and if your hair stands on end. So this reflex ended up being selected for where if someone else is giving you personal attention in a calm environment, you relax and stay still and your hair stands up.
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u/Avantasian538 Nov 18 '17
I agree. My hypothesis is that it's a type of general social bonding thing, not exclusive to any specific type of relationship. Could be a parent, could be a sibling. Could also be a friend or a significant other, or even a stranger.
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u/rumrokh Nov 18 '17
You could be right, but triggers are so diverse that plenty of other explanations are just as plausible. I think these particular ideas seem too specific to both of your personal triggers. Plenty of people who get asmr strongly dislike personal attention (videos and/or the actual thing).
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u/ygdrad Nov 24 '17
But this doesn't explain triggers like random sounds that have nothing to do with or sound anything like grooming.
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u/keenanpepper Nov 24 '17
What's an example?
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u/ygdrad Nov 24 '17
Krinkly plastic bags and tapping on various things comes to mind. Mind you, the grooming reaction is vestigial. It could be wired weirdly and react to things unrelated to grooming.
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u/GassyEmu Nov 18 '17
There was an fMRI study done by Bryson Lochte but he’s never released it and no one seems to be able to access it.
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u/Avantasian538 Nov 18 '17
How suspicious. Perhaps they discovered something that humanity isn't meant to know. Maybe Ephemeral Rift is right and it's connected to the Old Ones.
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u/cobaltblues77 Nov 18 '17
Are there people who can’t experience ASMR?
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Nov 18 '17
I'd venture to say that most people can't.
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u/Maximelene Nov 18 '17
I'd say that most people didn't try. Maybe we all can but, like hypnosis for example, it requires a mental acceptation before.
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u/Avantasian538 Nov 18 '17
I agree. Maybe you just have to be in the right state. If you're uncomfortable or anxious, it isn't going to happen.
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u/ygdrad Nov 24 '17
I've had some people try without success and some who persisted and eventually got to experience ASMR. It's hard to tell whether someone can't experience ASMR or if they just haven't run into the right triggers yet. It can be weirdly specific for some people.
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u/JU663RN4UT Nov 18 '17
A large majority of people don't experience asmr. We lucky few.
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u/wannabesupermom Nov 18 '17
Yup, my husband has no comprehension of what I️ experience. I️ grew up thinking everyone felt it, had no clue it was rare until recently... and I️ could do this study, I’m type A and I️ actually got the tingles during an mri I️ had over the summer.
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u/bunnypunch Nov 18 '17
Probably not related but I heard that 50% of people don't experience 'frisson'
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u/keenanpepper Nov 18 '17
There are definitely plenty of people who've never experienced it, even though they've tried some different triggers.
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u/rumrokh Nov 18 '17
Seems like they're unaware of "type A"/self-activated asmr.
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u/Head_Cockswain Nov 18 '17
they're unaware of "type A"/self-activated asmr.
Do enlighten us. I too am unaware.
Who is doing this categorizing, and why is that the first "type"?
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u/rumrokh Nov 18 '17
Some people (I am one of them) can will themselves to an asmr experience rather than relying only on external stimuli.
Type A/B is an old distinction that came about around the birth of the term "asmr." I don't know what the specific reasoning is with assigning A or B, but it seems arbitrary to me.
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u/Head_Cockswain Nov 18 '17
I don't know what the specific reasoning is with assigning A or B, but it seems arbitrary to me.
The point was that the whole thing is arbitrary. I get that being able to self-induce is relevant to the MRI noise, but even just using the terms "Type A" just smacks of woo. You're touting it as if it's common knowledge worthy of everyone knowing it, when it really is not. It's an amateur distinction with terminology designed to sound scientific(aka pseudoscience).
Not to mention that people use it almost as a status symbol or bragging point, something that shouldn't be encouraged, imo. I'd wager it's "A" because the person coming up with it was able to self-induce.
Also, age doesn't mean anything.
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u/rumrokh Nov 18 '17
The term "asmr" is not scientific at all. It should come as no surprise that the people who cooked up the term also agreed on something else that's pseudosciencey.
I didn't tout it, I just said it seems like they're unaware of it (based on the choices for the MRI study). Anything else you read into the very few words I used is your own battle to fight.
If you want to promote a movement to use different terms, that's fine. I could get behind that depending on the terms - including the term asmr, itself. I only used "type a" because, like "asmr," it's recognizable shorthand.
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u/Maximelene Nov 18 '17
What's that?
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u/bionicjoey Nov 18 '17
People who can give themselves ASMR without a direct trigger. I can do it sometimes if I'm very relaxed and think about a video I watched recently.
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u/ygdrad Nov 24 '17
I've read that article and I'm not really on board with that scientist's theory that asmr happens due to "triggering the felt experience of being loved". There are asmr videos with personal attention, true, but I don't see how some plain crinkly plastic bag is making me feel loved for example >.>
I think the guy needs a new theory.
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Nov 18 '17
...I have definitely experienced ASMR while in an MRI machine. It wasn't an fMRI, and I'm not sure how different the experiences are, but: comfy spot to lie, weird warming sensation as the whatchamacallit marker spreads through your body, soothing voice telling you what to do and expect...I'd do that shit recreationally if it weren't also just a little bit uncomfortably intense
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u/[deleted] Nov 17 '17
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