Jump to content

Out-of-body experience: Difference between revisions

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Browse history interactively
← Previous editNext edit →
Content deleted Content added
VisualWikitext
Goblin Face (talk | contribs)
7,637 edits
mNo edit summary
Goblin Face (talk | contribs)
7,637 edits
Line 55: Line 55:
[[Carl Sagan]] (1977) and Barbara Honegger (1983) wrote that the OBE experience may be based on a rebirth fantasy or reliving of the birth process based on reports of tunnel-like passageways and a [[Silver cord|cord-like connection]] by some OBErs which they compared to an [[umbilical cord]].<ref>Sagan, C. (1977). Broca's Brain New York, NY: Random House.</ref><ref>Honegger, B. (1983). The OBE as a near-birth experience. In Roll, W.G., Beloff, J., and White, R.A. (Eds.), Research in Parapsychology 1982 (pp. 230-231). Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press.</ref>
[[Carl Sagan]] (1977) and Barbara Honegger (1983) wrote that the OBE experience may be based on a rebirth fantasy or reliving of the birth process based on reports of tunnel-like passageways and a [[Silver cord|cord-like connection]] by some OBErs which they compared to an [[umbilical cord]].<ref>Sagan, C. (1977). Broca's Brain New York, NY: Random House.</ref><ref>Honegger, B. (1983). The OBE as a near-birth experience. In Roll, W.G., Beloff, J., and White, R.A. (Eds.), Research in Parapsychology 1982 (pp. 230-231). Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press.</ref>


[[Susan Blackmore]] (1978) came to the conclusion that the OBE is a hallucinatory fantasy as they have characteristics based around imaginary perceptions, perceptual distortions and fantasy-like perceptions of the self (such as having no body).{{clarify|date=September 2014}}<ref>Blackmore, S. (1978). ''Parapsychology and out-of-the-body experiences''. London: Transpersonal Books/Society for Psychical Research.</ref> [[Ronald K. Siegel|Ronald Siegel]] (1980) also wrote that OBEs are hallucinatory fantasies.<ref>Siegel, R. K. (1980). ''The psychology of life after death''. ''American Psychologist'', 35, 911-931.</ref> Harvey Irwin (1985) presented a theory of the OBE involving attentional cognitive processes and [[Somatosensory system|somatic sensory activity]]. His theory involved a cognitive personality construct known as [[Absorption (psychology)|psychological absorption]] and gave instances of the classification of an OBE as examples of [[autoscopy]], [[depersonalization]] and [[Dissociation (psychology)|mental dissociation]].<ref name="Irwin, Harvey 1985"/> The psychophysiologist [[Stephen Laberge]] (1985) has written that the explanation for OBEs can be found in [[lucid dreaming]].<ref>LaBerge, S. (1985). ''Lucid Dreaming''. Los Angeles: Jeremy P. Tarcher.</ref> David Hufford (1989) linked the OBE experience with a phenomenon he described as a [[nightmare]] waking experience, a type of [[sleep paralysis]].<ref>Hufford, David. (1989) ''The Terror That Comes in the Night: An Experience-Centered Study of Supernatural Assault Traditions (Publications of the American Folklore Society)''. University of Pennsylvania Press. ISBN 978-0812213058</ref> Other scientists have also linked OBEs to cases of [[hypnagogia]] and sleep paralysis ([[cataplexy]]).<ref>Adler, Shelley. (2010) ''Sleep Paralysis: Night-mares, Nocebos, and the Mind-Body Connection (Studies in Medical Anthropology)''. Rutgers University Press. ISBN 978-0813548869.</ref><ref>Mavromatis, Andreas. (2010). ''Hypnagogia: The Unique State of Consciousness Between Wakefulness and Sleep''. Thyrsos Press. ISBN 978-0955305214</ref>
[[Susan Blackmore]] (1978) came to the conclusion that the OBE is a hallucinatory fantasy as they have characteristics based around imaginary perceptions, perceptual distortions and fantasy-like perceptions of the self (such as having no body).<ref>Blackmore, S. (1978). ''Parapsychology and out-of-the-body experiences''. London: Transpersonal Books/Society for Psychical Research.</ref><ref>Sheikh, Anees. (1983). ''Imagery: Current Theory, Research, and Application''. John Wiley & Sons. p. 372. "Blackmore (1978) reviewed the evidence that indicates that out-of-the- body experiences have the following characteristics that can be expected of hallucinatory fantasies: (1) imaginary perceptions; (2) errors in perception; (3) perceptual distortions (such as seeing through things); (4) instantaneous traveling to distant locations; and (5) fantasy like perceptions of self such as not having a body, having a replica of one's body, and perceiving oneself as a point or a ball of light. She concluded from the data that out-of-the-body experiences should be viewed as hallucinatory fantasies."</ref> [[Ronald K. Siegel|Ronald Siegel]] (1980) also wrote that OBEs are hallucinatory fantasies.<ref>Siegel, R. K. (1980). ''The Psychology of Life After Death''. ''American Psychologist'' 35: 911-931.</ref> Harvey Irwin (1985) presented a theory of the OBE involving attentional cognitive processes and [[Somatosensory system|somatic sensory activity]]. His theory involved a cognitive personality construct known as [[Absorption (psychology)|psychological absorption]] and gave instances of the classification of an OBE as examples of [[autoscopy]], [[depersonalization]] and [[Dissociation (psychology)|mental dissociation]].<ref name="Irwin, Harvey 1985"/> The psychophysiologist [[Stephen Laberge]] (1985) has written that the explanation for OBEs can be found in [[lucid dreaming]].<ref>LaBerge, S. (1985). ''Lucid Dreaming''. Los Angeles: Jeremy P. Tarcher.</ref> David Hufford (1989) linked the OBE experience with a phenomenon he described as a [[nightmare]] waking experience, a type of [[sleep paralysis]].<ref>Hufford, David. (1989) ''The Terror That Comes in the Night: An Experience-Centered Study of Supernatural Assault Traditions (Publications of the American Folklore Society)''. University of Pennsylvania Press. ISBN 978-0812213058</ref> Other scientists have also linked OBEs to cases of [[hypnagogia]] and sleep paralysis ([[cataplexy]]).<ref>Adler, Shelley. (2010) ''Sleep Paralysis: Night-mares, Nocebos, and the Mind-Body Connection (Studies in Medical Anthropology)''. Rutgers University Press. ISBN 978-0813548869.</ref><ref>Mavromatis, Andreas. (2010). ''Hypnagogia: The Unique State of Consciousness Between Wakefulness and Sleep''. Thyrsos Press. ISBN 978-0955305214</ref>


In case studies [[Fantasy (psychology)|fantasy proneness]] has been shown to be higher among OBErs than those who have not had an OBE.<ref>Myers. S. A., Austrin, H. R., Grisso, J. T., & Nickeson, R. C. (1983). ''Personality Characteristics as related to the out-of-body experience''. Journal of Parapsychology, 47. 131-144.</ref> The data has shown a link between the OBE experience in some cases to [[fantasy prone personality]] (FPP).<ref>Wilson, S. C., & Barber T. X. (1982). ''The fantasy-prone personality: Implications for understanding imagery, hypnosis, and parapsychological phenomena.'' In A. A. Sheikh (Ed.) ''Imagery: Current theory, Research and Application''. New York: John Wiley.</ref> In a case study involving 167 participants the findings revealed that those who claimed to have experienced the OBE were "more fantasy prone, higher in their belief in the paranormal and displayed greater somatoform dissociation."<ref>Gow, K., Lang, T. and Chant, D. (2004). ''Fantasy proneness, paranormal beliefs and personality features in out-of-body experiences''. Contemp. Hypnosis, 21: 107–125.</ref> Research from studies has also suggested that OBEs are related to cognitive-perceptual [[schizotypy]].<ref>Parra, Alejandro. (2009). ''Out-of-Body Experiences and Hallucinatory Experiences: A Psychological Approach''. Journal: Imagination, Cognition and Personality , vol. 29, no. 3, pp. 211-223</ref>
In case studies [[Fantasy (psychology)|fantasy proneness]] has been shown to be higher among OBErs than those who have not had an OBE.<ref>Myers. S. A., Austrin, H. R., Grisso, J. T., & Nickeson, R. C. (1983). ''Personality Characteristics as related to the out-of-body experience''. Journal of Parapsychology, 47. 131-144.</ref> The data has shown a link between the OBE experience in some cases to [[fantasy prone personality]] (FPP).<ref>Wilson, S. C., & Barber T. X. (1982). ''The fantasy-prone personality: Implications for understanding imagery, hypnosis, and parapsychological phenomena.'' In A. A. Sheikh (Ed.) ''Imagery: Current theory, Research and Application''. New York: John Wiley.</ref> In a case study involving 167 participants the findings revealed that those who claimed to have experienced the OBE were "more fantasy prone, higher in their belief in the paranormal and displayed greater somatoform dissociation."<ref>Gow, K., Lang, T. and Chant, D. (2004). ''Fantasy proneness, paranormal beliefs and personality features in out-of-body experiences''. Contemp. Hypnosis, 21: 107–125.</ref> Research from studies has also suggested that OBEs are related to cognitive-perceptual [[schizotypy]].<ref>Parra, Alejandro. (2009). ''Out-of-Body Experiences and Hallucinatory Experiences: A Psychological Approach''. Journal: Imagination, Cognition and Personality , vol. 29, no. 3, pp. 211-223</ref>

Revision as of 21:41, 2 October 2014

Artist's depiction of the separation stage of an out-of-body experience, which often precedes free movement

An out-of-body experience (OBE or sometimes OOBE) is an experience that typically involves a sensation of floating outside one's body and, in some cases, perceiving one's physical body from a place outside one's body (autoscopy).

The term out-of-body experience was introduced in 1943 by George N. M. Tyrrell in his book Apparitions,[1] and was adopted by researchers such as Celia Green[2] and Robert Monroe[3] as an alternative to belief-centric labels such as "astral projection", "soul travel", or "spirit walking". OBEs can be induced by brain traumas, sensory deprivation, near-death experiences, dissociative and psychedelic drugs, dehydration, sleep, and electrical stimulation of the brain,[4] among others. It can also be deliberately induced by some.[5] One in ten people have an OBE once, or more commonly, several times in their life.[6][7]

Scientists generally regard OBEs as dissociative experiences arising from different psychological and neurological factors.[8][9][10][5][11][12][13]

Spontaneous

During/near sleep

Main article: Sleep paralysis

Those experiencing OBEs sometimes report (among other types of immediate and spontaneous experience) a preceding and initiating lucid-dream state. In many cases, people who claim to have had an OBE report being on the verge of sleep, or being already asleep shortly before the experience. A large percentage of these cases refer to situations where the sleep was not particularly deep (due to illness, noises in other rooms, emotional stress, exhaustion from overworking, frequent re-awakening, etc.). In most of these cases subjects perceive themselves being awake; about half of them note a feeling of sleep paralysis.[14]

Near-death experiences

Main article: Near-death experience

Another form of spontaneous OBE is the near-death experience (NDE). Some subjects report having had an OBE at times of severe physical trauma such as near-drownings or major surgery. Near-death experiences may include subjective impressions of being outside the physical body, visions of deceased relatives and religious figures, and transcendence of ego and spatiotemporal boundaries.[15] Typically the experience includes such factors as: a sense of being dead; a feeling of peace and painlessness; hearing of various non-physical sounds, an out-of-body experience; a tunnel experience (the sense of moving up or through a narrow passageway); encountering "people of light" and a God-like figure or similar entities; being given a "life review", and a reluctance to return to life.[16]

Resulting from extreme physical effort

Along the same lines as an NDE, extreme physical effort during activities such as high-altitude climbing and marathon running can induce OBEs. A sense of bilocation may be experienced, with both ground and air-based perspectives being experienced simultaneously.[17]

Induced

Chemical

Mental induction

  • Falling asleep physically without losing wakefulness. The "Mind Awake, Body Asleep" state is widely suggested as a cause of OBEs, voluntary and otherwise.[20] Thomas Edison used this state to tackle problems while working on his inventions. He would rest a silver dollar on his head while sitting with a metal bucket in a chair. As he drifted off, the coin would noisily fall into the bucket, restoring some of his alertness.[21] OBE pioneer Sylvan Muldoon more simply used a forearm held perpendicular in bed as the falling object.[22] Salvador Dalí was said to use a similar "paranoiac-critical" method to gain odd visions which inspired his paintings. Deliberately teetering between awake and asleep states is known to cause spontaneous trance episodes at the onset of sleep which are ultimately helpful when attempting to induce an OBE.[23][24][25] By moving deeper and deeper into relaxation, one eventually encounters a "slipping" feeling if the mind is still alert. This slipping is reported to feel like leaving the physical body. Some consider progressive relaxation a passive form of sensory deprivation.
  • Waking up mentally but not physically. This related technique is typically achieved through the practice of lucid dreaming. Once inside a lucid dream, the dreamer either shifts the subject matter of the dream in an OBE direction or banishes the dream imagery completely, in doing so gaining access to the underlying state of sleep paralysis ideal for visualization of separation from the body.
  • Deep trance, meditation and visualization. The types of visualizations vary; some common analogies include climbing a rope to "pull out" of one's body, floating out of one's body, getting shot out of a cannon, and other similar approaches. This technique is considered hard to use for people who cannot properly relax. One example of such a technique is the popular Golden Dawn "Body of Light" Technique.[26]

Mechanical induction

  • Brainwave synchronization via audio/visual stimulation. Binaural beats can be used to induce specific brainwave frequencies,[27] notably those predominant in various mind awake/body asleep states. Binaural induction of a "body asleep" 4 Hertz brainwave frequency was observed as effective by the Monroe Institute,[28] and some authors consider binaural beats to be significantly supportive of OBE initiation when used in conjunction with other techniques.[29][30] Simultaneous introduction of "mind awake" beta frequencies (detectable in the brains of normal, relaxed awakened individuals) was also observed as constructive. Another popular technology uses sinusoidal wave pulses to achieve similar results, and the drumming accompanying native American religious ceremonies is also believed to have heightened receptivity to "other worlds" through brainwave entrainment mechanisms.[31]
  • Magnetic stimulation of the brain, as with the God helmet developed by Michael Persinger.[32]
  • Direct stimulation of the vestibular cortex.[33]
  • Electrical stimulation of the brain, particularly the temporoparietal junction (See Blanke study below).
  • Sensory deprivation. This approach aims to encourage intense disorientation by removal of space and time references. Flotation tanks or pink noise played through headphones are often employed for this purpose.[34]
  • Sensory overload, the opposite of sensory deprivation. The subject can for instance be rocked for a long time in a specially designed cradle, or submitted to light forms of torture, to cause the brain to shut itself off from all sensory input. Both conditions tend to cause confusion and this disorientation often permits the subject to experience vivid, ethereal out-of-body experiences.[35]

Theories of OBEs

Psychological

In the fields of cognitive science and psychology OBEs are considered dissociative experiences arising from different psychological and neurological factors.[5][8][9][10][11][12][13] Scientists consider the OBE to be an experience from a mental state, like a dream or an altered state of consciousness without recourse to the paranormal.[36]

Charles Richet (1887) held that OBEs are created by the subject's memory and imagination processes and are no different from dreams.[37][38] James Hyslop (1912) wrote that OBEs occur when the activity of the subconscious mind dramatizes certain images to give the impression the subject is in a different physical location.[39] Eugèn Osty (1930) considered OBEs to be nothing more than the product of imagination.[40] Other early researchers (such as Schmeing, 1938) supported psychophysiological theories.[41] G. N. M. Tyrrell interpreted OBEs as hallucinatory constructs relating to subconscious levels of personality.[42]

Donovan Rawcliffe (1959) connected the OBE experience with psychosis and hysteria.[43] Other researchers have discussed the phenomena of the OBE in terms of a distortion of the body image (Horowitz, 1970) and depersonalization (Whitlock, 1978).[44][45] The psychologists Nandor Fodor (1959) and Jan Ehrenwald (1974) proposed that an OBE is a defense mechanism designed to deal with the threat of death.[46][47] According to (Irin and Watt, 2007) Jan Ehrenwald had described the out-of-body experience (OBE) "as an imaginal confirmation of the question for immortality, a delusory attempt to assure ourselves that we possess a soul that exists independently of the physical body.[48] The psychologists Donald Hebb (1960) and Cyril Burt (1968) wrote on the psychological interpretation of the OBE involving body image and visual imagery.[49][50] Graham Reed (1974) suggested that the OBE is a stress reaction to a painful situation, such as the loss of love.[51] John Palmer (1978) wrote that the OBE is a response to a body image change causing a threat to personal identity.[52]

Carl Sagan (1977) and Barbara Honegger (1983) wrote that the OBE experience may be based on a rebirth fantasy or reliving of the birth process based on reports of tunnel-like passageways and a cord-like connection by some OBErs which they compared to an umbilical cord.[53][54]

Susan Blackmore (1978) came to the conclusion that the OBE is a hallucinatory fantasy as they have characteristics based around imaginary perceptions, perceptual distortions and fantasy-like perceptions of the self (such as having no body).[55][56] Ronald Siegel (1980) also wrote that OBEs are hallucinatory fantasies.[57] Harvey Irwin (1985) presented a theory of the OBE involving attentional cognitive processes and somatic sensory activity. His theory involved a cognitive personality construct known as psychological absorption and gave instances of the classification of an OBE as examples of autoscopy, depersonalization and mental dissociation.[35] The psychophysiologist Stephen Laberge (1985) has written that the explanation for OBEs can be found in lucid dreaming.[58] David Hufford (1989) linked the OBE experience with a phenomenon he described as a nightmare waking experience, a type of sleep paralysis.[59] Other scientists have also linked OBEs to cases of hypnagogia and sleep paralysis (cataplexy).[60][61]

In case studies fantasy proneness has been shown to be higher among OBErs than those who have not had an OBE.[62] The data has shown a link between the OBE experience in some cases to fantasy prone personality (FPP).[63] In a case study involving 167 participants the findings revealed that those who claimed to have experienced the OBE were "more fantasy prone, higher in their belief in the paranormal and displayed greater somatoform dissociation."[64] Research from studies has also suggested that OBEs are related to cognitive-perceptual schizotypy.[65]

Terence Hines (2003) has written that spontaneous out-of-body experiences can be generated by artificial stimulation of the brain and this strongly suggests that the OBE experience is caused from "temporary, minor brain malfunctions, not by the person’s spirit (or whatever) actually leaving the body."[66] In a study review of neurological and neurocognitive data (Bünning and Blanke, 2005) wrote that OBEs are due to "functional disintegration of lower-level multisensory processing and abnormal higher-level self-processing at the temporo-parietal junction."[67] Some scientists suspect that OBEs are the result of a mismatch between visual and tactile signals.[68][69]

Richard Wiseman (2011) has noted that modern OBE research has focused on finding a psychological explanation and "out-of-body experiences are not paranormal and do not provide evidence for the soul. Instead, they reveal something far more remarkable about the everyday workings of your brain and body."[70] A study conducted by Jason Braithwaite and colleagues (2011) linked the OBE to "neural instabilities in the brain's temporal lobes and to errors in the body's sense of itself".[71][72] Braithwaite et al. (2013) reported that the "current and dominant view is that the OBE occurs due to a temporary disruption in multi-sensory integration processes."[73]

Paranormal

Writers within the fields of parapsychology and occultism have written that OBEs are not psychological and that a soul, spirit or subtle body can detach itself out of the body and visit distant locations. Out-of-the-body experiences were known during the Victorian period in spiritualist literature as "travelling clairvoyance". The psychical researcher Frederic Myers referred to the OBE as a "psychical excursion".[74] An early study which described alleged cases of OBEs was the two volume Phantasms of the Living, published in 1886 by the psychical researchers Edmund Gurney, Myers and Frank Podmore. The book was largely criticized by the scientific community as the anecdotal reports lacked evidential substantiation in nearly every case.[75][76]

The Theosophist Arthur Powell (1927) was an early author to advocate the subtle body theory of OBEs.[77] Sylvan Muldoon (1936) embraced the concept of an etheric body to explain the OBE experience.[78] The psychical researcher Ernesto Bozzano (1938) had also supported a similar view describing the phenomena of the OBE experience in terms of bilocation in which an "etheric body" can release itself from the physical body in rare circumstances.[79] The subtle body theory was also supported by occult writers such as Ralph Shirley (1938), Benjamin Walker (1977) and Douglas Baker (1979).[80] James Baker (1954) wrote that a mental body enters an "intercosmic region" during the OBE.[81] Robert Crookall in many publications supported the subtle body theory of OBEs.[82][83]

The paranormal approach to OBEs has not been supported by all researchers within the study of parapsychology. Gardner Murphy (1961) wrote OBEs are "not very far from the known terrain of general psychology, which we are beginning to understand more and more without recourse to the paranormal".[84] Susan Blackmore (1982) criticised the subtle body interpretation.[85] The parapsychologist Carlos Alvarado (1989) wrote that the subtle body theory of the OBE is considered obsolete by the scientific community due to research supporting the psychological approach since the 1970s.[86] Robert Bruce (1999) endorsed a theory of subtle bodies entering nonphysical dimensions to explain OBEs.[87]

Studies of OBEs

Early collections of OBE cases had been made by Ernesto Bozzano (Italy) and Robert Crookall (UK). Crookall approached the subject from a spiritualistic position, and collected his cases predominantly from spiritualist newspapers such as the Psychic News, which appears to have biased his results in various ways. For example, the majority of his subjects reported seeing a cord connecting the physical body and its observing counterpart; whereas Green found that less than 4% of her subjects noticed anything of this sort, and some 80% reported feeling they were a "disembodied consciousness", with no external body at all.

The first extensive scientific study of OBEs was made by Celia Green (1968).[88] She collected written, first-hand accounts from a total of 400 subjects, recruited by means of appeals in the mainstream media, and followed up by questionnaires. Her purpose was to provide a taxonomy of the different types of OBE, viewed simply as an anomalous perceptual experience or hallucination, while leaving open the question of whether some of the cases might incorporate information derived by extrasensory perception.

In 1999, at the 1st International Forum of Consciousness Research in Barcelona, International Academy of Consciousness research-practitioners Wagner Alegretti and Nanci Trivellato presented preliminary findings of an online survey on the out-of-body experience answered by internet users interested in the subject; therefore, not a sample representative of the general population.[89]

1,007 (85%) of the first 1,185 respondents reported having had an OBE. 37% claimed to have had between two and ten OBEs. 5.5% claimed more than 100 such experiences. 45% of those who reported an OBE said they successfully induced at least one OBE by using a specific technique. 62% of participants claiming to have had an OBE also reported having enjoyed nonphysical flight; 40% reported experiencing the phenomenon of self-bilocation (i.e. seeing one's own physical body whilst outside the body); and 38% claimed having experienced self-permeability (passing through physical objects such as walls). The most commonly reported sensations experienced in connection with the OBE were falling, floating, repercussions e.g. myoclonia (the jerking of limbs, jerking awake), sinking, torpidity (numbness), intracranial sounds, tingling, clairvoyance, oscillation and serenity.

Another reported common sensation related to OBE was temporary or projective catalepsy, a more common feature of sleep paralysis. The sleep paralysis and OBE correlation was later corroborated by the Out-of-Body Experience and Arousal study published in Neurology by Kevin Nelson and his colleagues from the University of Kentucky in 2007.[90] The study discovered that people who have out-of-body experiences are more likely to suffer from sleep paralysis.[91]

Also noteworthy, is the Waterloo Unusual Sleep Experiences Questionnaire [92] that further illustrates the correlation. William Buhlman, an author on the subject, has conducted an informal but informative online survey.[93]

In surveys, as many as 85% of respondents tell of hearing loud noises, known as "exploding head syndrome" (EHS), during the onset of OBEs.[94][95]

Miss Z study

In 1968, Charles Tart conducted an OBE experiment with a subject known as Miss Z for four nights in his sleep laboratory. The subject was attached to an EEG machine and a five-digit code was placed on a shelf above her bed. She did not claim to see the number on the first three nights but on fourth gave the number correctly.[96][97] The psychologist James Alcock criticized the experiment for inadequate controls and questioned why the subject was not visually monitored by a video camera.[98] Martin Gardner has written the experiment was not evidence for an OBE and suggested that whilst Tart was "snoring behind the window, Miss Z simply stood up in bed, without detaching the electrodes, and peeked."[99] Susan Blackmore wrote "If Miss Z had tried to climb up, the brain-wave record would have showed a pattern of interference. And that was exactly what it did show."[100]

Neurology and OBE-like experiences

There are several possible physiological explanations for parts of the OBE. OBE-like experiences have been induced by stimulation of the brain. OBE-like experience has also been induced through stimulation of the posterior part of the right superior temporal gyrus in a patient.[101] Positron-emission tomography was also used in this study to identify brain regions affected by this stimulation. The term OBE-like is used above because the experiences described in these experiments either lacked some of the clarity or details of normal OBEs, or were described by subjects who had never experienced an OBE before. Such subjects were therefore not qualified to make claims about the authenticity of the experimentally-induced OBE.

English psychologist Susan Blackmore and others suggest that an OBE begins when a person loses contact with sensory input from the body while remaining conscious.[102] The person retains the illusion of having a body, but that perception is no longer derived from the senses. The perceived world may resemble the world he or she generally inhabits while awake, but this perception does not come from the senses either. The vivid body and world is made by our brain's ability to create fully convincing realms, even in the absence of sensory information. This process is witnessed by each of us every night in our dreams, though OBEs are claimed to be far more vivid than even a lucid dream.

Irwin[103] pointed out that OBEs appear to occur under conditions of either very high or very low arousal. For example, Green[104] found that three quarters of a group of 176 subjects reporting a single OBE were lying down at the time of the experience, and of these 12% considered they had been asleep when it started. By contrast, a substantial minority of her cases occurred under conditions of maximum arousal, such as a rock-climbing fall, a traffic accident, or childbirth. McCreery[105][106] has suggested that this paradox may be explained by reference to the fact that sleep can supervene as a reaction to extreme stress or hyper-arousal.[107] He proposes that OBEs under both conditions, relaxation and hyper-arousal, represent a form of "waking dream", or the intrusion of Stage 1 sleep processes into waking consciousness.

Olaf Blanke studies

Research by Olaf Blanke in Switzerland found that it is possible to reliably elicit experiences somewhat similar to the OBE by stimulating regions of the brain called the right temporal-parietal junction (TPJ; a region where the temporal lobe and parietal lobe of the brain come together). Blanke and his collaborators in Switzerland have explored the neural basis of OBEs by showing that they are reliably associated with lesions in the right TPJ region[108] and that they can be reliably elicited with electrical stimulation of this region in a patient with epilepsy.[109] These elicited experiences may include perceptions of transformations of the patient's arms and legs (complex somatosensory responses) and whole-body displacements (vestibular responses).[110][111]

In neurologically normal subjects, Blanke and colleagues then showed that the conscious experience of the self and body being in the same location depends on multisensory integration in the TPJ. Using event-related potentials, Blanke and colleagues showed the selective activation of the TPJ 330–400 ms after stimulus onset when healthy volunteers imagined themselves in the position and visual perspective that generally are reported by people experiencing spontaneous OBEs. Transcranial magnetic stimulation in the same subjects impaired mental transformation of the participant's own body. No such effects were found with stimulation of another site or for imagined spatial transformations of external objects, suggesting the selective implication of the TPJ in mental imagery of one's own body.[112]

In a follow up study, Arzy et al. showed that the location and timing of brain activation depended on whether mental imagery is performed with mentally embodied or disembodied self location. When subjects performed mental imagery with an embodied location, there was increased activation of a region called the "extrastriate body area" (EBA), but when subjects performed mental imagery with a disembodied location, as reported in OBEs, there was increased activation in the region of the TPJ. This leads Arzy et al. to argue that "these data show that distributed brain activity at the EBA and TPJ as well as their timing are crucial for the coding of the self as embodied and as spatially situated within the human body."[113]

Blanke and colleagues thus propose that the right temporal-parietal junction is important for the sense of spatial location of the self, and that when these normal processes go awry, an OBE arises.[114]

In August 2007 Blanke's lab published research in Science demonstrating that conflicting visual-somatosensory input in virtual reality could disrupt the spatial unity between the self and the body. During multisensory conflict, participants felt as if a virtual body seen in front of them was their own body and mislocalized themselves toward the virtual body, to a position outside their bodily borders. This indicates that spatial unity and bodily self-consciousness can be studied experimentally and is based on multisensory and cognitive processing of bodily information.[115]

Michael Persinger studies

Michael Persinger has undertaken similar research to Olaf Blanke using magnetic stimulation applied to the right temporal lobe of the brain, which is known to be involved in visuo-spatial functions, multi-sensory integration and the construction of the sense of the body in space.[116] Persinger's research also found evidence for objective neural differences between periods of remote viewing in two individuals thought to have psychic abilities. Persinger undertook his research on Sean Harribance and Ingo Swann, a renowned remote viewer who has taken part in numerous studies.[117] Examination of Harribance showed enhanced EEG activity within the alpha band (8–12 Hz) over Harribance's right parieto-occipital region, consistent with neuropsychological evidence of early brain trauma in these regions. In a second study, Ingo Swann was asked to draw images of pictures hidden in envelopes in another room. Individuals with no knowledge of the nature of the study rated Swann's comments and drawings as congruent with the remotely viewed stimulus at better than chance levels. Additionally, on trials in which Swann was correct, the duration of 7 Hz (alpha band) paroxysmal discharges over the right occipital lobe was longer. Subsequent anatomical MRI examination showed anomalous subcortical white matter signals focused in the perieto-occipital interface of the right hemisphere that were not expected for his age or history.

Ehrsson study

In August 2007, Henrik Ehrsson, then at the Institute of Neurology at University College of London (now at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden), published research in Science demonstrating the first experimental method that, according to the scientist's claims in the publication, induced an out-of-body experience in healthy participants.[118] The experiment was conducted in the following way:

The study participant sits in a chair wearing a pair of head-mounted video displays. These have two small screens over each eye, which show a live film recorded by two video cameras placed beside each other two metres behind the participant's head. The image from the left video camera is presented on the left-eye display and the image from the right camera on the right-eye display. The participant sees these as one "stereoscopic" (3D) image, so they see their own back displayed from the perspective of someone sitting behind them.

The researcher then stands just beside the participant (in their view) and uses two plastic rods to simultaneously touch the participant's actual chest out-of-view and the chest of the illusory body, moving this second rod towards where the illusory chest would be located, just below the camera's view.

The participants confirmed that they had experienced sitting behind their physical body and looking at it from that location.[68][119]

Both critics and the experimenter himself note that the study fell short of replicating "full-blown" OBEs. As with previous experiments which induced sensations of floating outside of the body, Ehrsson's work does not explain how a brain malfunction might cause an OBE. Essentially, Ehrsson created an illusion that fits a definition of an OBE in which "a person who is awake sees his or her body from a location outside the physical body."[120]

AWARE study

In 2001, Sam Parnia and colleagues investigated out of body claims by placing figures on suspended boards facing the ceiling, not visible from the floor. Parnia wrote "anybody who claimed to have left their body and be near the ceiling during resuscitation attempts would be expected to identify those targets. If, however, such perceptions are psychological, then one would obviously not expect the targets to be identified."[121] The philosopher Keith Augustine, who examined Parnia's study, has written that all target identification experiments have produced negative results.[122] Psychologist Chris French wrote regarding the study "unfortunately, and somewhat atypically, none of the survivors in this sample experienced an OBE."[123]

In the autumn of 2008, 25 UK and US hospitals began participation in a study, coordinated by Parnia and Southampton University known as the AWARE study (AWAreness during REsuscitation). Following on from the work of Pim van Lommel in the Netherlands, the study aims to examine near-death experiences in 1,500 cardiac arrest survivors and so determine whether people without a heartbeat or brain activity can have documentable out-of-body experiences.[124] As part of the study Parnia and colleagues have investigated out of body claims by using hidden targets placed on shelves that could only be seen from above.[124] Parnia has written "if no one sees the pictures, it shows these experiences are illusions or false memories".[124]

Parnia issued a statement indicating that the first phase of the project has been completed and the results are undergoing peer review for publication in a medical journal.[125] No subjects saw the images mounted out of sight according to Parnia's early report of the results of the study at an American Heart Association meeting in November 2013. Only two out of the 152 patients reported any visual experiences, and one of them described events that could be verified.[126]

Smith & Messier

A recent functional imaging study reported the case of a woman who could experience out of body experience at will. She reported developing the ability as a child and associated it with difficulties in falling sleep. Her OBEs continued into adulthood but became less frequent. She was able to see herself rotating in the air above her body, lying flat, and rolling in the horizontal plane. She reported sometimes watching herself move from above but remained aware of her unmoving “real” body. The participant reported no particular emotions linked to the experience. "[T]he brain functional changes associated with the reported extra-corporeal experience (ECE) were different than those observed in motor imagery. Activations were mainly left-sided and involved the left supplementary motor area and supramarginal and posterior superior temporal gyri, the last two overlapping with the temporal parietal junction that has been associated with out-of-body experiences. The cerebellum also showed activation that is consistent with the participant’s report of the impression of movement during the ECE. There was also left middle and superior orbital frontal gyri activity, regions often associated with action monitoring."[127]

OBE training and research facilities

The Monroe Institute's Nancy Penn Center is a facility specializing in out-of-body experience induction. The Center for Higher Studies of the Consciousness in Brazil is another large OBE training facility. The International Academy of Consciousness in southern Portugal features the Projectarium, a spherical structure dedicated exclusively for practice and research on out-of-body experience.[128] Olaf Blanke's Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience has become a well-known laboratory for OBE research.[129]

Astral projection

Main article: Astral projection

Astral projection is a paranormal interpretation of out-of-body experiences that assumes the existence of one or more non-physical planes of existence and an associated body beyond the physical. Commonly such planes are called astral, etheric, or spiritual. Astral projection is often experienced as the spirit or astral body leaving the physical body to travel in the spirit world or astral plane.[130]

Evidence for objective reality of projection on to the etheric plane (a near-copy of the physical plane) is sometimes suggested when people, such as patients during surgery, describe OBEs in which they see or hear events or objects outside their sensory range (for instance, Pam Reynolds reported experiencing an OBE during brain surgery and described a surgical instrument she had not seen previously, as well as conversation that occurred while she was under anesthesia).[131]

See also

2

Notes

  1. ^ G. N. M. Tyrrell, Apparitions, Gerald Duckworth and Co. Ltd, London, 1943, pp. 149. ISBN 978-1169831537
  2. ^ C.E. Green, Out-of-the-body Experiences, Hamish Hamilton, London, 1968. ISBN 978-0345248435
  3. ^ Robert Monroe Journeys Out of the Body, 1971. ISBN 0-385-00861-9
  4. ^ Aspell, Jane; Blanke, Olaf. (2009). Understanding the out-of-body experience from a neuroscientific perspective in Psychological Scientific Perspectives on Out of Body and Near Death Experiences Psychology Research Progress. New York: Nova Science Publishers. ISBN 978-1607417057
  5. ^ a b c Brent, S. B. ( 1979). Deliberately induced, premortem, out-of-body experiences: An experimental and theoretical approach. In B. Kastenbaum (Ed.), Between life and death (pp. 89- 123). New York: Springer. ISBN 978-0826125408
  6. ^ Susan Blackmore. (1984). "A Postal Survey of OBEs and Other Experiences".
  7. ^ "(Aug. 24, 2007) First Out-of-body Experience Induced In Laboratory Setting". ScienceDaily. 2007-08-24. Retrieved 2011-10-06.
  8. ^ a b Gabbard, G. O., & Twemlow, A. W. (1984). With the eyes of the mind: An empirical analysis of out-of-body states. New York: Praeger Scientific. ISBN 978-0030689260
  9. ^ a b Leonard Zusne, Warren H. Jones (1989). Anomalistic Psychology: A Study of Magical Thinking. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. ISBN 0-8058-0508-7
  10. ^ a b Blanke, O; Landis, T; Seeck, M. (2004). Out-of-body experience and autoscopy of neurological origin. Brain 127: 243-258. Blanke, O; Mohr, C. (2005). Out-of-body experience, heautoscopy, and autoscopic hallucination of neurological origin. Implications for mechanisms of corporeal awareness and self consciousness. Brain Research Reviews 50: 184-199.
  11. ^ a b Meyerson, Joseph and Gelkopf, Marc (2004). "Therapeutic Utilization of Spontaneous Out-of-Body Experiences in Hypnotherapy". American Journal of Psychotherapy. 58 (1). {{cite journal}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |journal= (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  12. ^ a b Cheyne, James Allan (Fall 2008). "When Is an OBE Not an OBE? A New Look at Out-of-Body Experiences". Skeptic.
  13. ^ a b Blanke, Olaf (December 2004). "Out Of Body Experiences And Their Neural Basis: They Are Linked To Multisensory And Cognitive Processing In The Brain". British Medical Journal. 329 (7480): 1414–1415. The reviewed evidence from neurological patients experiencing this striking dissociation between self and body shows that out of body experiences are culturally invariant phenomena that can be investigated scientifically.
  14. ^ "SOBEs". Oberf.org. Retrieved 2011-10-06.
  15. ^ Greyson, Bruce. (2003). Near-Death Experiences in a Psychiatric Outpatient Clinic Population. Psychiatr Serv 54: 1649–1651.
  16. ^ Mauro, James. (1992). Bright lights, big Mystery. Psychology Today.
  17. ^ Metzinger (citing Alvarado), "Out-of-Body Experiences as the Origin of the Concept of a 'Soul'", Mind & Matter Vol. 3(1), 2005, p. 65.
  18. ^ Siegel, Ronald. (1980). The Psychology of Life after Death. American Psychologist 35: 911-931.
  19. ^ Shermer, Michael. (1997). Why People Believe Weird Things: Pseudoscience, Superstition, and Other Confusions of Our Time. Henry Holt and Company . p. 80. ISBN 0-8050-7089-3
  20. ^ Focus 10: Mind Awake/Body Asleep. Frederick Aardema (2012). Retrieved June 18, 2012
  21. ^ Pre-Grams of Tomorrow dreams as pathway to a New World Perspective: Forrer, Kurt
  22. ^ Hereward Carrington, Sylvan Muldoon. (1981). The Projection Of The Astral Body. Weiser Books. ISBN 978-0-87728-069-9
  23. ^ "Journeys out of the Body", 1972, Robert Monroe, p. 207-210, ISBN 0-285-62753-8
  24. ^ "Astral Dynamics: The Complete Book of Out-of-Body Experiences", 2009, Robert Bruce, p. 208-9, ISBN 978-1-57174-616-0
  25. ^ The Vigil Method. Frederick Aardema (2012). Retrieved June 27, 2012.
  26. ^ "The Art and Practice of Astral Projection", 1974, Ophiel, ISBN 978-0-87728-246-4
  27. ^ "[1]". The Effects of Hemi-Sync on Electrocortical Activity, Sadigh and Kozicky
  28. ^ Campbell, Thomas, 2007, "My Big TOE", p75,79. ISBN 978-0-9725094-6-6
  29. ^ Buhlman, William, 2001, "The Secret of the Soul", p198. ISBN 978-0-06-251671-8
  30. ^ Bruce, Robert, 2009, "Astral Dynamics: The Complete Book of Out-of-Body Experiences", p164. ISBN 978-1-57174-616-0
  31. ^ Haven, Janine. (2006). At a Glance' Religious and Spiritual Competency for Psychotherapists. AuthorHouse. ISBN 978-1425906849
  32. ^ "Spirituality & The Brain". Shakti Technology. Retrieved 2011-10-06.
  33. ^ Cheyne, J. A. & Girard, T. A. (2009). The body unbound: vestibular-motor hallucinations and out-of-body experiences. Cortex, 45, 201-215.
  34. ^ Nicholls, Graham. (2012). Navigating the Out-of-Body Experience: Radical New Techniques. Llewellyn Publications. ISBN 978-0738727615
  35. ^ a b Irwin, Harvey. (1985). Flight of Mind: A Psychological Study of the Out-Of-Body Experience. Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press. ISBN 978-0810817371
  36. ^ Blackmore, Susan. (2002). Out-of-Body Experiences. pp. 164-169. In Michael Shermer. The Skeptic Encyclopedia of Pseudoscience. ABC-CLIO. ISBN 978-1576076538
  37. ^ Richet, C. (1887). L 'homme et l'intelligence: Fragments de physiologie et de psychologie (2nd ed.). Paris: Felix Alcan.
  38. ^ Richet, C. (1922). Traith de metapsychique. Paris: Felix Alcan.
  39. ^ Hyslop, J. H. (1912). A review, a record and a discussion. Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research, 6, 490-5 16.
  40. ^ Osty, E. (1930). La vision de soi. Revue metapsychique. No. 3, 185-197.
  41. ^ Schmeing, K. (1938). Flugtraiume und "Exkursion des Ich. Archiv fur die Gesamte Psychologie.
  42. ^ Tyrrell, G. N. M. (1953). Apparitions. London: Gerald Duckworth. (Originally published, 1942.)
  43. ^ Rawcliffe, D.H. (1959). Illusions and Delusions of the Supernatural and the Occult. New York, NY: Dover. (Original work published 1952).
  44. ^ Horowitz, M. J. (1970). Image formation and cognition. New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts.
  45. ^ Whitlock, F. A. (1978). The psychiatry and psychopathology of paranormal phenomena. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 12, 1 1-1 9.
  46. ^ Fodor, N. (1959). The Haunted Mind. New York: Helix Press.
  47. ^ Ehrenwald, J. (1974). Out-of-the-body experiences and the denial of death. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 159, 227-233.
  48. ^ Harvey J. Irwin, Caroline Watt An Introduction to Parapsychology 2007, p. 188
  49. ^ Hebb, D. O. (1960). The American Revolution. American Psychologist, 15, 735-745.
  50. ^ Burt, C. (1968). Psychology and Psychical Research. London: Society for Psychical Research.
  51. ^ Reed, Graham. (1974). The Psychology of Anomalous Experience. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
  52. ^ Palmer, J. (1978). The out-of-body experience: A psychological theory. Parapsychology Review, 9(5), 19-22.
  53. ^ Sagan, C. (1977). Broca's Brain New York, NY: Random House.
  54. ^ Honegger, B. (1983). The OBE as a near-birth experience. In Roll, W.G., Beloff, J., and White, R.A. (Eds.), Research in Parapsychology 1982 (pp. 230-231). Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press.
  55. ^ Blackmore, S. (1978). Parapsychology and out-of-the-body experiences. London: Transpersonal Books/Society for Psychical Research.
  56. ^ Sheikh, Anees. (1983). Imagery: Current Theory, Research, and Application. John Wiley & Sons. p. 372. "Blackmore (1978) reviewed the evidence that indicates that out-of-the- body experiences have the following characteristics that can be expected of hallucinatory fantasies: (1) imaginary perceptions; (2) errors in perception; (3) perceptual distortions (such as seeing through things); (4) instantaneous traveling to distant locations; and (5) fantasy like perceptions of self such as not having a body, having a replica of one's body, and perceiving oneself as a point or a ball of light. She concluded from the data that out-of-the-body experiences should be viewed as hallucinatory fantasies."
  57. ^ Siegel, R. K. (1980). The Psychology of Life After Death. American Psychologist 35: 911-931.
  58. ^ LaBerge, S. (1985). Lucid Dreaming. Los Angeles: Jeremy P. Tarcher.
  59. ^ Hufford, David. (1989) The Terror That Comes in the Night: An Experience-Centered Study of Supernatural Assault Traditions (Publications of the American Folklore Society). University of Pennsylvania Press. ISBN 978-0812213058
  60. ^ Adler, Shelley. (2010) Sleep Paralysis: Night-mares, Nocebos, and the Mind-Body Connection (Studies in Medical Anthropology). Rutgers University Press. ISBN 978-0813548869.
  61. ^ Mavromatis, Andreas. (2010). Hypnagogia: The Unique State of Consciousness Between Wakefulness and Sleep. Thyrsos Press. ISBN 978-0955305214
  62. ^ Myers. S. A., Austrin, H. R., Grisso, J. T., & Nickeson, R. C. (1983). Personality Characteristics as related to the out-of-body experience. Journal of Parapsychology, 47. 131-144.
  63. ^ Wilson, S. C., & Barber T. X. (1982). The fantasy-prone personality: Implications for understanding imagery, hypnosis, and parapsychological phenomena. In A. A. Sheikh (Ed.) Imagery: Current theory, Research and Application. New York: John Wiley.
  64. ^ Gow, K., Lang, T. and Chant, D. (2004). Fantasy proneness, paranormal beliefs and personality features in out-of-body experiences. Contemp. Hypnosis, 21: 107–125.
  65. ^ Parra, Alejandro. (2009). Out-of-Body Experiences and Hallucinatory Experiences: A Psychological Approach. Journal: Imagination, Cognition and Personality , vol. 29, no. 3, pp. 211-223
  66. ^ Hines, Terence. (2003). Pseudoscience and the Paranormal. Prometheus Books. pp. 104-106. ISBN 1-57392-979-4
  67. ^ S. Bünning and O. Blanke. The out-of body experience: precipitating factors and neural correlates. Progress in Brain Research, vol. 150, p. 331-50, 2005
  68. ^ a b "Out-of-body experience recreated". BBC News. August 24, 2007. Retrieved May 20, 2010.
  69. ^ Blakeslee, Sandra (2006-10-03). "Out-of-Body Experience? Your Brain Is to Blame". Nytimes.com. Retrieved 2011-10-06.
  70. ^ Wiseman, Richard. (2011). Paranormality: Why We See What Isn't There. Macmillan. p. 60. ISBN 978-0-230-75298-6
  71. ^ Jason J. Braithwaite, Dana Samson, Ian Apperly, Emma Broglia, Johan Hulleman. (2011). Cognitive correlates of the spontaneous out-of-body experience (OBE) in the psychologically normal population: Evidence for an increased role of temporal-lobe instability, body-distortion processing, and impairments in own-body transformations. Cortex 47: 839-853.
  72. ^ "Out-of-body experiences linked to neural instability and biases in body representation". Science Daily.
  73. ^ Braithwaite, J.J., James, K., Dewe, H., Medford, N., Takahashi, C., & Kessler, K. (2013). Fractionating the unitary notion of dissociation: Disembodied but not embodied dissociative experiences are associated with exocentric perspective-taking. Frontiers in Neuroscience 7: 719.
  74. ^ Ronald Pearsall. (1972). The Table-Rappers. Book Club Associates. p. 197. ISBN 978-0750936842
  75. ^ Alexander Taylor Innes. (1887). Where Are the Letters? A Cross-Examination of Certain Phantasms. Nineteenth Century 22: 174-194.
  76. ^ Charles Sanders Peirce. (1958). Collected Papers of Charles Sanders Peirce, Volume 4. Harvard University Press. p. 360
  77. ^ Powell, Arthur. (1927). Astral Body and Other Astral Phenomena. Kessinger Publishing. ISBN 978-1162570952
  78. ^ Muldoon, S. (1936). The Case for Astral Projection. Chicago: Ariel Press. ISBN 978-1162738680
  79. ^ Bozzano, E. (1938). Discarnate Influences in Human Life. London: John M. Watkins.
  80. ^ Shirley, Ralph. (1938). The Mystery of the Human Double: The Case for Astral Projection. Kessinger Publishing. ISBN 978-0548056035 Walker. Benjamin. (1977). Beyond the Body: Human Double and the Astral Planes. Routledge. ISBN 978-0710085818. Baker, Douglas. (1979). Practical Techniques of Astral Projection. Red Wheel/Weiser. ISBN 978-0850301410
  81. ^ Baker, James. (1954). The exteriorization of the mental body : a scientific interpretation of the out-of-the-body experience known as pneumakinesis. William-Frederick Press. Online
  82. ^ Crookall, R. (1961). The Study and Practice of Astral Projection. London: Aquarian Press.
  83. ^ Crookall, R. (1965). Intimations of Immortality. Cambridge: James Clarke.
  84. ^ Murphy, G., with Dale, L. (1961). Challenge of Psychical Research. New York: Harper & Row.
  85. ^ Blackmore, S. J. (1982). Beyond the body: An investigation of out-of-the-body experiences. London: Heinemann.
  86. ^ Alvarado, Carlos. (1989). Trends in the study of out-of-body-experiences: An overview of developments since the nineteenth century. Journal of Scientific Exploration 3: 21-42
  87. ^ Bruce, Robert. (1999). Astral Dynamics: A New Approach to Out-Of-Body Experiences. Hampton Roads Publishing. ISBN 978-1571741431
  88. ^ Green, C.E. (1968). Out-of-the-Body Experiences. London: Hamish Hamilton.
  89. ^ "preliminary findings". Out-of-body-experience.org. Retrieved 2011-10-06.
  90. ^ "Out-of-body experience and arousal". Neurology.org. 2007-03-06. Retrieved 2011-10-06.
  91. ^ Highfield, Roger. (2007). What really happens in out of body experiences. The Telegraph.
  92. ^ "Waterloo Unusual Sleep Experiences Questionnaire". Watarts.uwaterloo.ca. 1940-06-25. Retrieved 2011-10-06.
  93. ^ "online survey". Astralinfo.org. Retrieved 2011-10-06.
  94. ^ Buhlman, William. "Results of OBE Survey". The Out of Body Experience. Retrieved 2011-03-18.
  95. ^ Twemlow SW, Gabbard GO, Jones FC, April (1982). "The out-of-body experience: a phenomenological typology based on questionnaire responses". American Journal of Psychiatry. 139 (4): 450–455. PMID 7039367.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  96. ^ Zusne, Leonard; Jones, Warren. (1989). Anomalistic Psychology: A Study of Magical Thinking. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. p. 126. ISBN 0-8058-0508-7
  97. ^ Robert Todd Carroll. (2003). The Skeptic's Dictionary. Wiley. p. 110. ISBN 0-471-27242-6
  98. ^ Alcock, James. (1981). Parapsychology-Science Or Magic?: A Psychological Perspective. Pergamon Press. pp. 130-131. ISBN 978-0080257730
  99. ^ Gardner, Martin. (1989). How Not To Test A Psychic: 10 Years of Remarkable Experiments with Renowned Clairvoyant Pavel Stepanek. Prometheus Books. p. 246. ISBN 0-87975-512-1
  100. ^ Blackmore, Susan. (1986). The Adventures of a Parapsychologist. Prometheus Books. p. 176. ISBN 0-87975-360-9
  101. ^ De Ridder D, Van Laere K, Dupont P, Menovsky T, Van de Heyning P. Visualizing out-of-body experience in the brain. N Engl J Med. 2007 Nov 1;357(18):1829–33.
  102. ^ Blackmore, S. (1992). Beyond the body: An investigation of out of body experiences. Chicago: Academy Chicago Publishers.
  103. ^ Irwin, H.J. (1985). Flight of Mind: a psychological study of the out-of-body experience. Metuchen, New Jersey: The Scarecrow Press.
  104. ^ Green C.E. (1968). Out-of-the-Body Experiences. London: Hamish Hamilton.
  105. ^ McCreery, C. (1997). Hallucinations and arousability: pointers to a theory of psychosis. In Claridge, G. (ed.): Schizotypy, Implications for Illness and Health. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  106. ^ McCreery, C. (2008). Dreams and psychosis: a new look at an old hypothesis. Psychological Paper No. 2008–1. Oxford: Oxford Forum. Online PDF
  107. ^ Oswald, I. (1962). Sleeping and Waking: Physiology and Psychology. Amsterdam: Elsevier.
  108. ^ Blanke, O., Landis, T., Spinelli, L., & Seeck, M. (2004). Out-of-body experience and autoscopy of neurological origin. Brain, 127(Pt 2), 243–258.
  109. ^ Blanke, O.; Ortigue, S.; Landis, T.; Seeck, M. (2002). "Stimulating illusory own-body perceptions" (PDF). Nature. 419 (6904): 269–270. doi:10.1038/419269a. PMID 12239558.
  110. ^ Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience at Ecole Polytechnique Federeale de Lausanne: http://lnco.epfl.ch/
  111. ^ Out-of-Body Experiences: All in the Brain? By Jan Holden, EdD, Jeff Long, MD, and Jason MacLurg, MD Vital Signs Volume 21, Number 3
  112. ^ Blanke, O., Mohr, C., Michel, C. M., Pascual-Leone, A., Brugger, P., Seeck, M., et al. (2005). Linking out-of-body experience and self processing to mental own-body imagery at the temporoparietal junction. Journal of Neuroscience, 25(3); doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.2612-04.2005. [2]
  113. ^ Arzy, S.; Thut, G.; Mohr, C.; Michel, C.M.; Blanke, O. (2006). "Neural basis of embodiment: Distinct contributions of temporoparietal junction and extrastriate body area". Journal of Neuroscience. 26 (31): 8074–8081. doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0745-06.2006. PMID 16885221.
  114. ^ Blanke, O.; Arzy, S. (2005). "The out-of-body experience: Disturbed self-processing at the temporo-parietal junction". Neuroscientist. 11 (1): 16–24. doi:10.1177/1073858404270885. PMID 15632275.
  115. ^ Lenggenhager et al. 2007. Video Ergo Sum: Manipulating Bodily Self-Consciousness. Science 317:1096–1099 doi:10.1126/science.1143439
  116. ^ Michael Persinger's research on YouTube presented by Michael Shermer
  117. ^ Persinger, Michael M. (2001). "The neuropsychiatry of paranormal experiences". Neuropsychiatric Practice and Opinion. 13 (4): 521–522. doi:10.1176/appi.neuropsych.13.4.515.
  118. ^ Ehrsson, H.H. 2007. The Experimental Induction of Out-of-Body Experiences. Science 317:1048 doi:10.1126/science.1142175
  119. ^ First out-of-body experience induced in laboratory setting, August 23, 2007, EurekAlert!
  120. ^ ""Out of Body. Be Back Soon.", EnlightenmentNext, Feb–April 2008". Enlightennext.org. Retrieved 2011-10-06.
  121. ^ Parnia, S; Waller, D. G; Yeates, R; Fenwick, P. (2001). A Qualitative and Quantitative Study of the Incidence, Features and Aetiology of Near-Death Experiences in Cardiac Arrest Survivors. Resuscitation 48: 149–156.
  122. ^ Keith Augustine. (2008). "Hallucinatory Near-Death Experiences". Internet Infidels. Retrieved 2014-06-03.
  123. ^ French, Chris. (2005). Near-Death Experiences in Cardiac Arrest Survivors. Progress in Brain Research 150: 351-367.
  124. ^ a b c Jane Dreaper. (2008). "Study into near-death experiences". BBC News. Retrieved 2014-06-03.
  125. ^ AWARE Study Update 2014. Published online at Horizon Research Foundation.
  126. ^ Bowman, Lee (December 20, 2013). "Scientists looking closer at what happens when body dies; edge closer to new understanding". WEWS-TV. Scripps Howard News Service. Retrieved 2014-05-24.
  127. ^ Smith AM, Messier C. Voluntary out-of-body experience: an fMRI study. Front Hum Neurosci. 2014;8:70. (http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fnhum.2014.00070/abstract)
  128. ^ IAC. "Projectarium". Iacworld.org. Retrieved 2011-10-06.
  129. ^ Laureys, Steven. (2005). The Boundaries of Consciousness: Neurobiology and Neuropathology, Volume 150 (Progress in Brain Research). Elsevier Science. ISBN 978-0444518514
  130. ^ "entry on ''Astral body'' in the Historical Terms Glossary from the website of the Parapsychological Association, retrieved August 26, 2007". Parapsych.org. Retrieved 2011-10-06.
  131. ^ Michael B. Sabom. Light & death: one doctor's fascinating account of near-death experiences, Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1998. ISBN 0-310-21992-2. Accessed 2008-06-03.

Further reading

  • Blackmore, Susan. (1984). A psychological theory of the out-of-body experience. Journal of Parapsychology. 48: 201-218.
  • Blackmore, Susan. (1982). Beyond the Body: An Investigation of Out-of-the-Body Experiences. London: Heinemann. ISBN 978-0897333443
  • Blanke, O; Ortigue, S; Landis, T; Seeck, M. (2002). Stimulating illusory own-body peceptions. Nature 419: 269-270.
  • Blanke, O; Landis, T; Seeck, M. (2004). Out-of-body experience and autoscopy of neurological origin. Brain 127: 243-258.
  • Blanke, O; Mohr, C. (2005). Out-of-body experience, heautoscopy, and autoscopic hallucination of neurological origin. Implications for mechanisms of corporeal awareness and self consciousness. Brain Research Reviews 50: 184-199.
  • Blanke, O; Arzy, S. (2005). The out-of-body experience: Disturbed self-processing at the temporal-parietal junction. Neuroscientist 11: 16-24.
  • Bunning, S; Blanke, O. (2005). The out-of-body experience: precipitating factors and neural correlates. In Laureys, S. The boundaries of consciousness: Neurobiology and neuropathology. Progress in Brain Research, The Netherlands: Elsevier. 150: 331-350. ISBN 978-0444528766
  • Brugger, P; Regard, M; Landis, T. (1997). Illusory reduplication of one’s own body: phenomenology and classification of autoscopic phenomena. Cognitive Neuropsychiatry 2: 19-38.
  • Brugger, P. (2002). Reflective mirrors: Perspective-taking in autoscopic phenomena. Cognitive Neuropsychiatry 7: 179-194.
  • Cheyne, J. A; Girard, T. A. (2009). The body unbound: vestibular-motor hallucination and out of body experiences. Cortex 45: 201-215.
  • Gabbard, G. O; Twemlow, A. W. (1984). With the eyes of the mind: An empirical analysis of out-of-body states. New York: Praeger Scientific. ISBN 978-0030689260
  • Irwin, Harvey. (1985). Flight of Mind: A Psychological Study of the Out-Of-Body Experience. Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press. ISBN 978-0810817371
  • Metzinger, Thomas. (2003). The pre-scientific concept of a 'soul': A neurophenomenological hypothesis about its origin.
  • Reed, Graham. (1988). The Psychology of Anomalous Experience: A Cognitive Approach. Prometheus Books. ISBN 978-0879754358
  • Schwabe, L.; Blanke, O. (2008). The Vestibular Component in Out-Of-Body Experiences: A Computational Approach. Frontiers in human neuroscience 2: 17.
  • Terhune, D. B. (2009). The incidence and determinants of visual phenomenology during out-of-body experiences. Cortex 45: 236-242.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Out-of-body_experience&oldid=628004981"