Effects of Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response on the Functional Connectivity as Measured by Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging

Abstract

Autonomous sensory meridian response (ASMR) is a sensory phenomenon in which audio-visual stimuli evoke a tingling sensation and is accompanied by a feeling of calm and relaxation. Therefore, there has been an increasing interest in using stimuli that elicit ASMR in cognitive and clinical neuroscience studies. However, neurophysiological basis of sensory-emotional experiences evoked by ASMR remain largely unexplored. In this study, we investigated how functional connectivity is changed while watching ASMR video, compared to resting state, and assessed its potential association with affective state induced by ASMR. 28 subjects participated in fMRI experiment consisting of 2 sessions (resting-state and task of viewing ASMR-eliciting video). Using a seed-based correlation analysis, we found that functional connections between the posterior cingulate cortex, and superior/middle temporal gyri, cuneus, and lingual gyrus were significantly increased during ASMR compared to resting state. In addition, we found that with the pregenual anterior cingulate cortex seed region, functional connectivity of the medial prefrontal cortex was increased during ASMR condition, relative to resting state. These results imply that ASMR can be elicited and maintained by ongoing interaction between regional activity that are mainly involved in the mentalizing and self-referential processing. We also found that ASMR-induced affective state changes (high activation negative and high activation positive state) were negatively correlated with functional connectivity involved in visual information processing, suggesting that visual information processing in response to high arousal states can be weakened by ASMR-eliciting stimuli.

Induction of Relaxation by Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response

“…The study showed differences in brain activation between individuals who experience ASMR and those who do not ( Smith et al, 2017 ). Lee et al (2020) examined how functional connectivity changes during ASMR video viewing compared to resting state, and assessed its relevance to ASMR-induced emotional states. ASMR-induced changes in emotional state are negatively correlated with functional connectivity for visual information processing.…”

Autonomous sensory meridian response (ASMR): A PRISMA-guided systematic review.

“…K. Fredborg et al, 2021; M. Lee et al, 2019; Paszkiel et al, 2020; Pedrini et al, 2021; Seifzadeh et al, 2021; Swart, Banissy, et al, 2022; Tian et al, 2020) and fMRI studies (seven studies, S. Lee et al, 2020; Lochte et al, 2018; Sakurai et al, 2021; S.…”

“…Moreover, during ASMR stimulation, functional connectivity can apparently be altered between different brain areas (e.g., between the posterior cingulate cortex and the superior temporal gyrus; S. Lee et al, 2020), with increased functional connectivity being revealed when a seed-based analysis was used (S. Lee et al, 2020) and decreased functional connectivity when using an independent-components analysis technique (S.…”

YouTube, the Attention Economy and Digital Audience Interest in Sponsored ASMR Videos

“…Examples of Psychology research on the subject can be seen in Swart et al (2021), Morales et al (2021), Roberts et al (2018Roberts et al ( , 2020Roberts et al ( , 2021, Janik & Osborne-Ford (2020), Cash et al (2018), as well as Fredborg et al (2017Fredborg et al ( , 2021. On the Neurosciences front, some notable works include Ohta & Inagaki (2021), Gyoung (2021), Maniago et al (2021), Idayati et al (2021), Fredborg et al (2021), Lee et al (2020), Smith et al (2020), Paszkiel et al (2020), Valtakari et al (2019), Poerio et al (2018), Lochte et al (2018), Barratt et al (2017), andSmith et al (2017). The Sonology field has also produced some recent works on ASMR, most notably Uchiyama & Kawamoto (2021), Klefeker et al (2020), Fukushima (2019), Kovacevich & Huron (2018), Janik & Banissy (2018), and Rouw & Erfanian (2018).…”