Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response (ASMR) and the Functions of Consciousness.

ASMR, a sensory-emotional experience first named in online forums, shows mounting psychological and neural evidence of a consistent set of triggers, experiential properties, and downstream effects. Psychological instruments now measure it. Despite its nonscientific origins, ASMR is a good candidate for being a real kind in cognitive sciences due to a robust causal profile and possible adaptive evolutionary history. Understanding its distinctive phenomenal experience can illuminate the functions of consciousness and challenge certain cognitive theories. ASMR warrants more extensive scientific investigation, including potential therapeutic applications.

Study at a glance

Abstract

"Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response" (ASMR) refers to a sensory-emotional experience that was first explicitly identified and named within the past two decades in online discussion boards. Since then, there has been mounting psychological and neural evidence of a clustering of properties common to the phenomenon of ASMR, including convergence on the set of stimuli that trigger the experience, the properties of the experience itself, and its downstream effects. Moreover, psychological instruments have begun to be developed and employed in an attempt to measure it. Based on this empirical work, we make the case that despite its nonscientific origins, ASMR is a good candidate for being a real kind in the cognitive sciences. The phenomenon appears to have a robust causal profile and may also have an adaptive evolutionary history. We also argue that a more thorough understanding of the distinctive type of phenomenal experience involved in an ASMR episode can shed light on the functions of consciousness, and ultimately undermine certain "cognitive" theories of consciousness. We conclude that ASMR should be the subject of more extensive scientific investigation, particularly since it may also have the potential for therapeutic applications.