Jennifer Allen

History of ASMR: Interview (Part 2) with Jennifer Allen, the woman who coined the term “ASMR” (podcast episode #9)

/ Dr. Richard / 1 Comment

ASMR Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response UniversityIn this podcast episode I will read the second part of an interview I did with Jennifer Allen, the woman who coined the term, “Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response.”

Jennifer will be sharing her thoughts and feelings about

  • the current widespread use of the term ASMR,
  • how her understanding of ASMR has changed over time,
  • what she perceives as the next big step for the ASMR community,
  • where the understanding and application of ASMR might be in 10 years,
  • how ASMR is part of her daily life,
  • and more.

Subscribe to the ASMR University Podcast to hear all of the past and future episodes or listen to this one episode right here:

Continue reading →

History of ASMR: Interview (Part 1) with Jennifer Allen, the woman who coined the term “ASMR” (podcast episode #8)

/ Dr. Richard / Leave a comment

ASMR Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response UniversityIn this podcast episode I will read the first part of an interview I did with Jennifer Allen, the woman who coined the term, “Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response.”

You will hear about the details and inside stories about:

  • her involvement in the first forum thread about ASMR,
  • her creation of the term ASMR,
  • her founding of the ASMR Facebook Group and ASMR Facebook Page,
  • her creation of the research website,
  • and her fight to keep the first Wikipedia page about ASMR.

Subscribe to the ASMR University Podcast to hear all of the past and future episodes or listen to this one episode right here:

Continue reading →

Interview with Jennifer Allen, the woman who coined the term, ‘Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response’ (ASMR)

/ Dr. Richard / 2 Comments

ASMR Autonomous Sensory Meridian ResponseJennifer Allen currently lives just outside Plattsburgh in upper state NY, USA. She has attended the University of Southern Maine and is currently a Red Team Manager for a cybersecurity company.

Jennifer is also the person who coined the term, Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response.

But that is not all. She has been a significant contributor to the ASMR community from the start.

Here is an incomplete list of her incredible involvements and achievements:

Continue reading →

History of ASMR: Birth of the ASMR Community (podcast episode #2)

/ Dr. Richard / 2 Comments

ASMR Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response UniversityOctober 29, 2007 could be viewed as the birth date of the ASMR community.

On this day, an individual by the username of “okaywhatever” started a forum thread at the website http://www.steadyhealth.com.

The title of the thread was, “Weird sensation feels good” and attracted over 300 replies.  The content of these initial replies quickly created a clear and consistent description of ASMR which still accurately describes ASMR today.

Some of the participants in the thread, such as Jennifer Allen and Andrew MacMuiris, spawned out and developed resources which were monumental to the growth and understanding of ASMR.

Overall, this forum thread lead directly to the following ASMR milestones:

Continue reading →

The science of ASMR from a BBC article

/ Dr. Richard / 1 Comment

An article about ASMR was posted yesterday at BBC.com.

The article focuses mostly on ASMR artists (Emma whispersredasmr, Maria gentlewhispering, & Laura Stone) and the art of ASMR, with some minor mentions related to the science of ASMR.

A neuroscience professor provided his thoughts about the mechanism of ASMR.  Quote from the article:

“Frances McGlone, professor of neuroscience at Liverpool John Moores University. I contacted him because I hoped he might be able to explain the mechanism which produces such a distinctive physical reaction from such a diverse range of stimuli. He couldn’t, because no-one has researched the question. “In a quick look on the more respected search engines for published scientific research I couldn’t find anything that supported a neurobiological basis for why these sensory experiences should be provoked by observing these ASMR videos,” he tells me.

McGlone further expressed concern about home-brewed alternative therapies in general and a potential erotic element of ASMR.  Quote from the article:

Continue reading →

A scientist’s view of the term “Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response”

/ Dr. Richard / Leave a comment

Jennifer Allen coined the term “Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response” in 2010.  Prior to this the head tingles that most people now call ASMR went by a variety of terms including brain orgasm, attention-induced head orgasm, attention-induced euphoria, that unnamed feeling, and of course, head tingles.

Is ASMR a better term than these prior terms?  Is ASMR the best term possible?  Could a better term be coined to describe this sensation?

I won’t hold my judgement until the end of this post.  I will tell you right now.

Continue reading →