Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response (ASMR) Videos Are Popular among Young Adults but Likely Not Effective As a Stress-Relief Treatment Option (Preprint)

The potential of using online media content as an efficient and affordable alternative to mental health care depends on the ability to identify and select content that offers therapeutic benefits. Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response (ASMR) videos, known for inducing a tingling sensation through repetitive behaviors and enhanced audio features, have gained attention largely due to self-reported evidence suggesting their effectiveness in reducing stress. This study aimed to assess physiological evidence from the central nervous system (CNS) using functional magnetic resonance imaging to validate the stress-relief effects of ASMR videos within an uninterrupted, naturalistic paradigm. This study investigated the neurological responses of 72 young adults to popular ASMR videos, focusing on established CNS indicators of stress, and examines how neural synchrony in response to these videos varies with stress levels. Despite the use of an advanced analytic pipeline suitable for naturalistic paradigms—incorporating inter-subject correlation (ISC) and inter-subject representational similarity analysis (IS-RSA)—this study found no substantial neurological evidence to support ASMR's stress-relief effects across carefully selected video stimuli. Among the 16 stress-related regions of interest, significant neural synchrony was observed solely in the left insula (Brodmann area 13) with ISC = 0.013, p < .05, after false-discovery rate correction. Furthermore, the degree of neural synchronization was not moderated by individuals’ stress levels. Despite ensuring ecological validity and utilizing a state-of-the-art analytic pipeline suited for naturalistic paradigms, this study did not provide neurological evidence supporting the stress-relief effects of ASMR videos. Consequently, these results challenge the therapeutic claims made by researchers and media outlets regarding ASMR's effectiveness as a stress-relief tool.