- The word ASMR can refer to a category of video often posted on YouTube or other social media sites of people playing with slime, cutting objects with hot knives, destroying makeup, crushing or exploding objects, eating and slurping food, whispering, tapping surfaces with long nails, and more. It can also refer to the sensation evoked by these videos itself, namely a tingling, pleasing, and relaxing sensation.
ASMR
noun; other word formation type Initialism
ASMR is an initialism of Autonomous sensory meridian response. This refers to an experience of a static-like sensation or chill that runs throughout your body as a result of sounds, sights, or actions that are designed to be pleasing and calming.
Etymology : The initialism ASMR describes an experience felt by individuals with what they self-described as being “brain tingles.” Before 2010, this experience had no formal name and many individuals who experienced what is now dubbed ASMR did not know other people had similar sensations. The name ASMR emerged as a result of discussion of this sensation by those who can feel it on online forums. The word was coined by Jennifer Allen, who came up with it by writing down the various characteristics of her particular experience and then searching for words that captured each listed characteristic. Allen chose to define this experience using a clinical/scientific sounding term as a way to make people less skeptical or uncomfortable about addressing this sensation, as shame or embarrassment was typically felt by members of the ASMR-experiencing community.
Source : “asmrresearch.org” (Jennifer Allen, 2010)
Last modified: 6 December 2019