The awesome as well as the awful: Heightened sensory sensitivity predicts the presence and intensity of Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response (ASMR)

•Results show that those with (stronger) ASMR have heightened sensory sensitivity.•Specifically, sensitivity to interoceptive cues and positive appraisals of stimuli.•The Highly Sensitive Person construct emerged as central for predicting ASMR.•ASMR may involve heightened interoceptive sensibility and body-emotion awareness.•Findings shed new light on mechanisms underlying individual differences in ASMR.