Tingle-Eliciting Audiovisual Properties of Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response (ASMR) Videos

In autonomous sensory meridian response (ASMR), certain audiovisual stimuli can evoke a range of spontaneous sensations, in particular a pleasant tingling that often originates across the scalp, spreading down the spine toward the shoulders ('tingles'). Major drivers of tingle elicitation in ASMR stimuli are often 'crisp' sounds created by whispering or manipulating an object, as well as social-attentional features such as implied direct attention to the viewer. However, relationships between specific stimulus properties and ASMR-typical subjective responses remain to be fully mapped. In two studies, we therefore sought to isolate specific tingle-eliciting stimulus features by comparing tingle reports for ASMR video clips between ASMR experiencers and control participants. The first study compared intact versus desynchronized video clips to probe whether the presence of audiovisual features would be sufficient to elicit tingles, or whether these features needed to be presented in a coherent sequence. The second study compared clips with filtered and unfiltered audio, demonstrating that 'crisp' sounds had greater tingle efficacy over 'blunted' sounds. Overall, the presence of stimulus features in both synchronized and desynchronized clips was effective in eliciting self-reported subjective responses (tingle frequency), while intact clips involving object manipulation and speech sounds were most effective. An exploratory analysis suggested that viewer-oriented implied attention also influenced tingle ratings. These findings further pinpoint the importance of object and speech sounds in eliciting ASMR tingle responses, supporting the proposition that audiovisual stimulus features implying proximity to the viewer play a key role.