Date of Award
5-2026
Degree Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
School
Psychology
Committee Chair
Mark Huff
Committee Chair School
Psychology
Committee Member 2
Lin Agler
Committee Member 2 School
Psychology
Committee Member 3
Alen Hajnal
Committee Member 3 School
Psychology
Committee Member 4
Donald Sacco
Committee Member 4 School
Psychology
Abstract
The Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response (ASMR) is a recently identified sensory phenomenon that results in self-reported of feelings of pleasure, tingles, relaxation, and increased focus when exposed to specific auditory triggers such as whispering, tapping, and typing. Listening to ASMR has been linked to an increase in subjective well-being and reductions in anxiety and depression. With an increase in self-reported attentional focus, listening to ASMR may increase performance across several cognitive tasks related to attentional control and episodic memory, such as Stroop, n-back, Antisaccade, Operation Span, and the dual-list memory task. My dissertation examined whether exposure to ASMR triggers objectively increased performance on these cognitive tasks compared to a control group who was exposed to a neutral white noise. Listening to ASMR audio did not enhance performance across any of the cognitive tasks and ASMR sensitivity showed only weak relationships with accuracy for retroactive recall on the dual list task, quicker response times for incongruent Stroop trials, and subjective well-being. Overall, my dissertation found that performance on cognitively demanding tasks does not improve when participants listen to common ASMR triggers, nor do ASMR listeners report greater subjective well-being compared to non-listeners.
Copyright
Monika A. Mazela, 2026
Recommended Citation
Mazela, Monika, "Exploring the Effects of ASMR on Attentional Control, Episodic Memory, and Working Memory Tasks" (2026). Dissertations. 2473.
https://aquila.usm.edu/dissertations/2473