How does our time perception change during out-of-body experiences? Scientists from the University of Clermont-Auvergne in France have conducted a fascinating experiment that recreated the illusion of the body using mannequin hands.
Looking through virtual reality glasses, participants saw a simulator instead of their own hand. They had to observe and feel the touch of an artificial and a real hand at two different intervals: synchronous and asynchronous. Then they needed to estimate the length of these intervals in time.
As we know, we perceive time subjectively, depending on our internal clock which is affected by the physiological state of the body, temperature, emotions, movement, and other factors. Self-awareness plays a key role in the assessment of time, since the perception of time is tied to our body, perceived as our “I”.
During the out-of-body experiences, the connection with the body is severed, and accordingly, our perception of time also changes. Thus, with synchronous tactile contact, the participants felt the virtual hand as an extension of their body, experiencing the illusion of an out-of-body experience. At that moment, they perceived time slowing down or stretching out. Phase practitioners also report out-of-body experiences and time-stretching sensations. Could such experiments will allow new approaches to the study of lucid dreams, out-of-body experiences, and even sleep paralysis?
The study was published in PeerJ magazine in March 2020.
