Out of Body Experiences Created in Lab (quote, believe, science)

[solidsquid]

I know we don't have an actual science forum, I figured the subject was most appropriately placed here.

A neuroscientist working at UCL (University College London) has devised the first experimental method to induce an out-of-body experience in healthy participants. In a paper published in Science, Dr Henrik Ehrsson, UCL Institute of Neurology, outlines the unique method by which the illusion is created and the implications of its discovery.

Read the rest at:

ScienceDaily: First Out-of-body Experience Induced In Laboratory Setting

Abstracts to the two articles in Science on OBEs:

The Experimental Induction of Out-of-Body Experiences -- Ehrsson 317 (5841): 1048 -- Science

Video Ergo Sum: Manipulating Bodily Self-Consciousness -- Lenggenhager et al. 317 (5841): 1096 -- Science

[MontanaGuy]

I've seen a couple of documentaries on television that describe the out of body phenomenon in a scientific way and explain how that sensation could be caused. It would be a completely different situation if someone could come back from an out of body experience and describe something in great detail that couldn't be seen from the location of their body. People have claimed to have done this but I've never seen anything that was documented in a scientific manner with safeguards against cheating. If someone was able to demonstrate that this could be done it would be a stunning development but I don't believe it's possible because as the article suggests, this is a kind of illusion that changes someones perceptions but they're really not leaving their body at all.

[doss1]

Cool! Alice in Wonderland syndrome.

I remember reading about a blind guy that died and had a OBE and was able to recall everything that "he saw" (plus striking detail in colors) which was impossible because he was blind. That was a few years ago, so I lost the source, but it was in some medical mag.

Fascinating stuff.