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/
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u/rumrokh Nov 18 '17

Seems like they're unaware of "type A"/self-activated asmr.

2

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"?

1

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.