Out-of-body experience under fMRI

[pocaracas]

http://www.iflscience.com/brain/brain-sc...experience

To be clear, this was a type of hallucination.[...]

Using an fMRI, which images blood flow to detect brain activity, researchers from the University of Ottawa scanned the brain of a woman who claims that she can produce, at will, extra-corporeal experiences -- during one of her self-reported experiences. They write in their case study:

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She was able to see herself rotating in the air above her body, lying flat, and rolling along with the horizontal plane. She reported sometimes watching herself move from above but remained aware of her unmoving “real” body.

Crazy, yes? But according to the researchers, something was happening in her brain that was consistent with her report. Gizmodo explains:

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The fMRI showed a "strong deactivation of the visual cortex" while "activating the left side of several areas associated with kinesthetic imagery," which includes mental imagery of bodily movement. This is the part of the brain that makes it possible for us to interact with the world. It's what makes you feel where your body is in relation to the world.

In other words, the brain scans show that she feels she’s going through what she’s claiming. But this was no astral trip -- it was a type of hallucination triggered by some neurological mechanism.

[Fromper]

I suspect this is probably similar to feeling things while asleep.

I discovered as a teenager that if I slept in my underwear, I'd have those stereotypical dreams of going to school in my underwear. When I started wearing shorts and a t-shirt to bed, I didn't have those dreams. It became obvious to me that even while asleep, my sense of touch was active, so my mind knew what I was wearing, then inserted that knowledge into my dreams.

The mind and body don't shut off when a person is asleep or otherwise unconscious. They just work differently then when we're awake.

[Mudhammam]

In other words, the brain scans show that she feels she’s going through what she’s claiming. But this was no astral trip -- it was a type of hallucination triggered by some neurological mechanism.

No...fucking...shit.

[*Deidre*]

This is really fascinating as it gives a logical scientific reason for why things like this happen. It would be nice if the average person did more in the way of research and educating him/herself on such information than crediting it to a spiritual experience.

[FreeTony]

If you think proper scientific investigation will deter believers in this sort of stuff then you my be disappointed.

[Neo-Scholastic]

The real test will be if the subject could identify things not viewable from the physical body, like a photo laid flat on a high shelf.

[Mudhammam]

The real test will be if the subject could identify things not viewable from the physical body, like a photo laid flat on a high shelf.

Apparently, this is a common feature of NDE. Although beyond a number anecdotes (some involving group NDE where the experiencers all simultaneously recalled seeing each other outside of the body) I have yet to see anything in the way of evidence.

[*Deidre*]

If you think proper scientific investigation will deter believers in this sort of stuff then you my be disappointed.

Not at first, but many don't even take that first step in trying to educate themselves on these things, but rather just make that religious leap to it being a miracle. All starts with a first step.

[CapnAwesome]

The real test will be if the subject could identify things not viewable from the physical body, like a photo laid flat on a high shelf.

Want to guess how that test would go?

[Neo-Scholastic]

The real test will be if the subject could identify things not viewable from the physical body, like a photo laid flat on a high shelf.

Apparently, this is a common feature of NDE. Although beyond a number anecdotes (some involving group NDE where the experiencers all simultaneously recalled seeing each other outside of the body) I have yet to see anything in the way of evidence.

It would at least be testable.