Scientists Recreate Out of Body Experiences.... (virtual, paranormal, science, Article)

[Buttercup]

CHICAGO (AFP) - For centuries, people have claimed to have had out-of-body experiences but now scientists have recreated the sensation without using drugs in the first experiments of their kind, a study said Thursday.

As many as one in 10 people say they have experienced the sensation of being awake and seeing their own body from another location, according to the study published in the journal Science.

"Out-of-body experiences have fascinated mankind for millennia. Their existence has raised fundamental questions about the relationship between human consciousness and the body," said Henrik Ehrsson, a neuroscientist formerly of University College London, and now at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden.

Now neuroscientists have manipulated a group of perfectly healthy volunteers into thinking they had moved outside their bodies by distorting their perception of reality.
Using virtual reality goggles to mix up the sensory signals reaching the brain, they induced the volunteers into projecting their awareness into a virtual body. Participants confirmed they had experienced sitting behind their physical body and looking at it.

The illusion was so strong that the volunteers reacted with a palpable sense of fear when their virtual selves were threatened with physical force.

The findings suggest there may be a scientific explanation for these types of out-of-body experiences, which are often thought of as delusional or paranormal, and the scientists believe their research could have important applications.

"The invention of this illusion is important because it reveals the basic mechanism that produces the feeling of being inside the physical body," said Ehrsson.
"This represents a significant advance because the experience of one's own body as the center of awareness is a fundamental aspect of self-consciousness."

And inducing people to have out-of-body experiences could have wide-ranging uses, he believes.
"This is essentially a means of projecting yourself, a form of teleportation. If we can project people into a virtual character, so they feel and respond as if they were really in a virtual version of themselves, just imagine the implications.

"The experience of video games could reach a whole new level, but it could go much beyond that. For example, a surgeon could perform remote surgery, by controlling their virtual self from a different location."

But scientists still don't know exactly what causes such experiences which have often been associated with traumatic experiences such as car accidents and linked to compromised brain function in epileptics, drug addicts and stroke victims.

"Brain dysfunctions that interfere with interpreting sensory signals may be responsible for clinical cases of out-of-body experiences," said Ehrsson.

"Though, whether all out-of-body experiences arise from the same causes is still an open question."


Scientists recreate out-of-body experiences (no drugs) - Yahoo! News


Because science can produce an OBE does this lend any credence to the theory that other OBE's are simply illusions the brain creates?

If science confirms that OBE's are not a paranormal/supernatural experience, would that help convince you that humans have no souls as so many who have experienced an OBE proclaim?

What are your thoughts on the subject?

[zombieharlot]

I saw this article a few moments ago. Personally, I'm very intrigued by it, but I'm way too tired to get into this right now. Consider this thread subscribed and post-pending.

[Terrywoodenpic]

My questions on this relate to the perceived environment.
In the experiment it was done with goggles, to give the outside view.
In the clinical cases there is no projected image. so where does the outside view originate?

[Hema]

I think people who have OBEs can see things as real as they are, which they normally would not see if they were asleep and not having an OBE.

I had a couple OBEs but they didn't last long. I stopped myself because I got scared.

One of my friends who had an OBE said he saw his parents walk right past him, just as they were.

[Willamena]

Originally Posted by Buttercup

"Using virtual reality goggles to mix up the sensory signals reaching the brain, they induced the volunteers into projecting their awareness into a virtual body. Participants confirmed they had experienced sitting behind their physical body and looking at it.

The illusion was so strong that the volunteers reacted with a palpable sense of fear when their virtual selves were threatened with physical force."

But that's not the same at all as OBEs. Is it? There's no virtual reality goggles and externally fed signals involved in OBEs.

Originally Posted by Buttercup

"But scientists still don't know exactly what causes such experiences which have often been associated with traumatic experiences such as car accidents and linked to compromised brain function in epileptics, drug addicts and stroke victims."

Ah, see.

[Victor]

Now that is interesting!

[Buttercup]

Originally Posted by Willamena

But that's not the same at all as OBEs. Is it? There's no virtual reality goggles and externally fed signals involved in OBEs.

I think perhaps the point the scientist are trying to make is that OBE's could come from our own self consciousness as the test reveals it can be manipulated. It's a step in the right direction of knowing more. It's fascinating!

The quote below reveals the highlight of the experiment....

"The invention of this illusion is important because it reveals the basic mechanism that produces the feeling of being inside the physical body," said Ehrsson.

"This represents a significant advance because the experience of one's own body as the center of awareness is a fundamental aspect of self-consciousness."

[AslanDesu]

Doesn't suprise me.

[Storm]

Originally Posted by Buttercup

Because science can produce an OBE does this lend any credence to the theory that other OBE's are simply illusions the brain creates?

Well, for one thing, I think it's overstating the case to say they've reproduced OBEs. They've reached a whole new level of virtual reality, which is exciting for all the reasons listed in the article, but (as they admit) they still don't even know what causes OBEs.

That said, if and when they do learn to induce OBEs, the answer to your question is no. The discoveries of neurotheology have revealed the mechanism of mystical trance, but they cannot answer the question of whether such experiences are truly communion with God. This is no different.

If science confirms that OBE's are not a paranormal/supernatural experience, would that help convince you that humans have no souls as so many who have experienced an OBE proclaim?

Again, no. I believe in God, I believe in what can loosely be described as "souls," but I do not believe in the supernatural. If a thing occurs in nature, it is by definition natural, and "miracles happen within the rules." So "supernatural" (which to me means something which defies natural law) is a nonsense-concept.

I also believe that paranormal phenomena are things which we simply do not yet understand.

I believe that OBEs and other psychic phenomena are well within the reach of our understanding. To grasp them, we need only open-minded study.