What Are Brain Orgasms And ASMR Whisperers?

Christian delves into the euphoric sensations of the Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response (ASMR) and reveals what triggers it and how science has responded so far.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
Welcome to brain stuff from how stuff works by brain stuff,
I'm Christian Sager. When people start throwing around the term
brain orgasm, it definitely gets your attention even more than
brain stuff. Right. But that's just one way that autonomous
sensory meridian response or a s MR has captured the

(00:23):
interest of one corner of the Internet. Another is a
s MRS effect itself. It's described by many as a
satisfying tingle running from the top of your head down
your spine. It causes a variety of sensory stimuli, from
the sound of whispering to the sight of someone combing
their own hair. And I have to admit I experienced

(00:43):
it myself. And look, if it's true, who doesn't want
to feel good and relaxed. So let's examine what a
s MR is, what triggers it, how science responds to it,
and how it's online community works. Maybe then we'll get
a little closer to unraveling its mystery. The actual term
a s MR was coined by healthcare I t professional

(01:04):
Jen Allen, who also started a research institute dedicated to
analyzing the euphoric phenomenon. The orgasm association isn't necessarily sexual,
but a s MR does feel comparably good. Each individual
responds to sensory triggers differently, but in general, a s
MR is described as meditative and soothing. Trigger examples include

(01:28):
light sounds of crinkling, a person whispering slowly, or someone
completing a task with personal attention like painting or cutting hair.
A s MR is described much like synastasia, the phenomenon
where one sense produces the experience of another, like when
you hear a musical note as a color or you
see a letter as a flavor. The merger of these

(01:51):
senses is extreme compared to normal sensations. Not everyone can
experience it, and like cinnastasia a few years back, a
s m are is having trouble getting recognition in the
scientific community. In fact, because the term isn't medically recognized,
there's been a prolonged battle over whether or not it
should even have a Wikipedia entry. Research on a s

(02:14):
MR is still in its infancy, but neuroscientists Stephen Novella
believes it likely has real neurological causes that could potentially
be miniature seizures or hardwired evolutionary reactions. Wow Other people
theorize that dopamine or saratonin are involved, or that it's

(02:35):
a bonding phenomenon connected to mother child nurturing releasing the
hormone oxytocin. The sound of a young woman's calm, reassuring
voice obviously reminds us of our ideal infancy, So this
seems reasonable. If you've never experienced a SMR and want
to try it out, I've got good news. There is
a whole community online primarily cultivated by whisperer videos. Are

(03:00):
people called evokers record a s m R triggers by
speaking softly and making sounds with objects like feathers, brushes,
and plastic bags. Evokers tend to be young women who
often play roles like travel agents, hairdressers, or optometrists. When
an evoker uses a three D microphone, the triggers intensify,

(03:21):
providing an auditory experience that moves up close and personal.
This isn't just a niche group either. Hundreds of evokers
are uploading thousands of videos to help their viewers relax.
Some hope to lull insomniacs to sleep, while others simply
purse their lips provocatively and say things like I would

(03:42):
like to blow smoke into you. There are mail evokers too,
but they're rarely welcomed by the A s m R community,
possibly due to the cultural expectations of gender roles and nurturing.
But that's a double edged sword when the most popular
videos feature young women on YouTube not exactly know for
its sympathetic humanitarians. Read the comments on any a sm

(04:05):
R video and you'll see battles play out between trolls
and defenders of the host. In a prolific evoker's YouTube
account was actually hacked to portray her as a pedophile,
eventually driving her away from the community. Despite this incident,
the a s m R community is mostly democratic and
provides a shared experience for those who can feel the

(04:27):
tingle of the brain work as check out the brain
stuff channel on YouTube, and for more on this and
thousands of other topics, visit how stuff works dot com.