Out of body experience recreated

[cf24]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/6960612.stm

Experts have found a way to trigger an out-of-body experience in volunteers.

The experiments, described in the Science journal, offer a scientific explanation for a phenomenon experienced by one in 10 people.

Two teams used virtual reality goggles to con the brain into thinking the body was located elsewhere.

The visual illusion plus the feel of their real bodies being touched made volunteers sense that they had moved outside of their physical bodies.

The researchers say their findings could have practical applications, such as helping take video games to the next level of virtuality so the players feel as if they are actually inside the game.

Clinically, surgeons might also be able to perform operations on patients thousands of miles away by controlling a robotic virtual self.

Teleported

For some, out-of-body experiences or OBEs occurs spontaneously, while for others it is linked to dangerous circumstances, a near-death experience, a dream-like state or use of alcohol or drugs.

One theory is that it is down to how people perceive their own body - those unhappy or less in touch with their body are more likely to have an OBE.

But the two teams, from UCL and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne, believe there is a neurological explanation.


We feel that our self is located where the eyes are
UCL researcher Dr Henrik Ehrsson

Their work suggests a disconnection between the brain circuits that process visual and touch sensory information may thus be responsible for some OBEs.

In the Swiss experiments, the researchers asked volunteers to stand in front of a camera while wearing video-display goggles.

Through these goggles, the volunteer could see a camera view of their own back - a three-dimensional "virtual own body" that appeared to be standing in front of them.

When the researchers stroked the back of the volunteer with a pen, the volunteer could see their virtual back being stroked either simultaneously or with a time lag.

The volunteers reported that the sensation seemed to be caused by the pen on their virtual back, rather than their real back, making them feel as if the virtual body was their own rather than a hologram.

Volunteers

Even when the camera was switched to film the back of a mannequin being stroked rather than their own back, the volunteers still reported feeling as if the virtual mannequin body was their own.

And when the researchers switched off the goggles, guided the volunteers back a few paces, and then asked them to walk back to where they had been standing, the volunteers overshot the target, returning nearer to the position of their "virtual self".

Dr Henrik Ehrsson, who led the UCL research, used a similar set up in his tests and found volunteers had a physiological response - increased skin sweating - when they felt their "virtual self" was being threatened - appearing to be hit with a hammer.

Dr Ehrsson said: "This experiment suggests that the first-person visual perspective is critically important for the in-body experience. In other words, we feel that our self is located where the eyes are."

Dr Susan Blackmore, psychologist and visiting lecturer at the University of the West of England, said: "This has at last brought OBEs into the lab and tested one of the main theories of how they occur.

"Scientists have long suspected that the clue to these extraordinary, and sometimes life-changing, experiences lies in disrupting our normal illusion of being a self behind our eyes, and replacing it with a new viewpoint from above or behind."


Very interesting article....

[tejas]

Ya but it doesn't explain a real OBE imho. This is just the same as that derren brown trick with the voodoo doll, the person projects himself into the image seen
at front.

[whitenight639]

yer if we think we are where are eyes are then dosnt that further the validity of OBE? :confused:

[2013]

dr susan blackmore was at one time she will tell you a believer i nthe paranormal and tarot etc but has since "discovered " thta science can explain it all and that there is no such thing as psychic phenomena at least that is the view she presented when interviewed several years ago in a tv documentary .The programme showed how with the aid of a virtual reality helmet and sensors attached to the head a person could be made to feel watched or touched tickled etc or to feel joy or fear or pain .This they claimed proved that again it was all a scientific proof that obe's and the like were not really valid .It proves nothing of the kind if anything it proves that there are certain areas of the brain that act as receptors for these experiences and that we dont need a virtual headset in lab conditions t o produce them in my opinion :D.

[auron]

One of my favorite books:

Robert Peterson - Out of Body Experiences.pdf (http://www.badongo.net/file/2727476)

[hagbard_celine]

What they describe is not an OBE in the true sense of the word; it's more a mental illusion, a bit standing on a river bank like staring down at the moving water and feeling as if you're moving in the opposite direction.

It's true that electrical currents applied to certain parts of the brain, as well as psychoactive drugs, can induce mystical experiences to some degree, this doesn't prove that the experience is not real.

[synergy777]

this life could be vr, and we wouldn't even know, until the after death, maya, 13th floor.

[2013]

i once told a lad i knew that i had died some years previous but hadnt crossed over ,when he asked how i knew that i told him that i had stayed inside a flat during a fire long after the others got out and firemen where wearing breathing apparatus walking round .Then a few years later i saw a small white intense light grow to fill the entire room and i said i was supposed to go into it , but didnt , he said jacobs ladder yeh great video , but i hadnt seen it at the time .The point being that i was living on the 13th floor da da da daaaa lol when we had the conversation , that was a strange floor with a lot of strange goings on in the block particularly on the middle levels :D

[kblood]

the ULTIMATE video game - YouTube

Very interesting and relating clip I think. A video game uses some kind of hypnosis technique to make a player on the arcade game system belive that he is in the game. Interesting watch, but can be a con of course. I do believe it possible, but so hard to know with these things.

I believe the man behind this clip is Derren Brown. He is quite critical about the existance of ghosts and so on. He uses hypnosis to disprove most of the things he tries do disprove I believe. I do not agree with him completely, but he does some interresting research.

[kblood]

My own experiences tells me it is possible to control machines with your mind by the way. Guess it might be because I am a geek. I havent tried controlling something like that, without being "out of my body". Takes too much... spirit/soul focus or whatever it is :)

[earthseed]

Hmm I just see this as a way to give people artificial OBEs as an out there entertainment device of the future. So it will stop them from trying to have real ones which could lead to a higher level of awareness.

[kblood]

I have felt like having an OBE while playing computer games. So much that it feels like some of it is events going on elsewhere, or maybe in some other time. Have at least only happened once or twice. I use some games as inspiration for where I might think to be a good place to travel. Especially since there are places to go that simply arent put on maps or anything, but only explained in the many kinds of media we have today.

Being open minded really opens up for alot more oppertunities in life than we might think. Seems that our only limit is our imagination, so I try to expand and use my imagination whenever possible. Makes for greater, better and more intuative spells and use of abilities. Our creativeness is our main source of all kinds of magic. Wether they are about making a song, a movie, writing a book or whatever else we might use it for. And love is what drives our creativeness.

Derren Brown obviously tries to use his creativity to disprove something he does not believe in, and it will always be possible to disprove something that might never even be provable, to anyone that do not believe or understand it. Only noticed just now that this Derren Brown had already been mentioned. My opinnion on the first post is that it sounds like a very creative way of learning to use OBE and it might very well lead to telekinesis I think.

Will be exciting to find out :)

[tejas]

I have felt like having an OBE while playing computer games. So much that it feels like some of it is events going on elsewhere, or maybe in some other time. Have at least only happened once or twice. I use some games as inspiration for where I might think to be a good place to travel. Especially since there are places to go that simply arent put on maps or anything, but only explained in the many kinds of media we have today.

Being open minded really opens up for alot more oppertunities in life than we might think. Seems that our only limit is our imagination, so I try to expand and use my imagination whenever possible. Makes for greater, better and more intuative spells and use of abilities. Our creativeness is our main source of all kinds of magic. Wether they are about making a song, a movie, writing a book or whatever else we might use it for. And love is what drives our creativeness.

Derren Brown obviously tries to use his creativity to disprove something he does not believe in, and it will always be possible to disprove something that might never even be provable, to anyone that do not believe or understand it. Only noticed just now that this Derren Brown had already been mentioned. My opinnion on the first post is that it sounds like a very creative way of learning to use OBE and it might very well lead to telekinesis I think.

Will be exciting to find out :)

I understand what you are saying, Derren Brown can be overly critical of certain things like soul and spirit. But you have to see the value of these people because they have the ability to separate the wheat from chaff so to speak.

There are a lot of charlatans out there who claim to have paranormal abilities, and even some poor misguided fools who really really think they have. By using these methods to investigate and dissect these phenomenon we can see which ones are real and which ones are simply and illusion, or a trick of the mind

For instance in this case, it is not a true OBE in the sense that all they are doing is showing a mental illusion - you can make anyone believe in anything if you can hypnotise them. This does not believe that there aren't real instances of the case, it just means that this isn't one of them.

You can for instance hypnotise a person to make him believe that he is seeing an elephant. This doesn't mean elephants don't exist.

[kblood]

Maybe you are right. If they made their game about some house that does exists, and make everything in the game like that house, I believe it could help train OBEs.

Problem is that how OBEs can be hurtfull for the mind I think. Could make a person more absent minded than usual. I have periods where I find it hard to focus on anything, and I believe OBEs might very well be the cause of this. Takes time to get the "feel" of my body back. Sometimes I feel like I am not fully "in my body" again. Sometimes I might go OBE by mistake, due to some kind of distraction.

There are downsides to experimenting with this, and all test subjects should be made aware that it is important to be careful when doing this. Doing it several hours each day might be alot more dangerous than playing computer games. Since I am likely to play computer games 8 hours or more some days, I guess I am no good at thinking it as dangerous though :o

I never really understood how something as fun and creative as computer games can be harmfull. I have come to realise that it might cause negative thoughts, and delusions. I think the same can be said about books or movies though. I like being able to do something, I am sure is not a dream, but still fun :)

[julieray]

Surely this mechanical version of a so called OBE could not possibly be anywhere near the real thing, it is just a trick. I am certainly no expert in this field, but I did have one over 20 years or so ago, I floated right up into the sky, way above the clouds, but I always kept my eyes on my body. I thought to myself, "I am dying", then a voice said that it was not my time and straight away I fell straight back down into my own body again! It was a very strange experience, but now I wished I had flown around some more and maybe asked some questions.

A friend, who unfortunately I am no longer in touch with used to have these out of body experiences all the time, I remember one occasion, he said that he thought he would take a look into the future. The people there flew around and spoke using telepathy, amazing!!! Funnily enough in a meditation I had recently, some humanoids spoke to me telepathically and said that they would give the gift of telepathy as this was the universal language. My interpretation of this is that it will be available for everyone to tap into with spiritual growth and development. Sorry for going off on a tangent there!!!

Back to the article though, I would treat anything of this nature with an amount of sceptism merely because science in the past, do nothing but rationalise spiritualism and explain things away by talking about the electricity in the brain that can cause the illusion of this and that and make you think you are here or there.....I just can't listen to all the crap they spout, I just wish one would be brave enough to speak out instead of following the brainwashed crowd. Now when we watch programs like Crossing Over with David Edward and Sixth Sense with Colin Fry we have to endure the fact that it is for entertainment purposes only!!! It makes me want to cringe!!!
Good talking point though!!!
Unconditional love and light
Julie
xxxx

[catfood]

I think it wud be interesting to have a go in this virtual reality machine, but that’s all it is virtual reality. Wen thay invent a machine that allows you to cum out of your body and fly thro the wall then into a higher dimension to get advice of enlightened beings. Then ill be imprested.
But showing a 3D real-time image of sum one stud in front of them selves is just a simple illusion, and in fact I feel this might just be a propergander stunt to try and prove that OBE’s are just in peoples heads.