Autism is considered a personality disorder that entails difficulties with social interaction as well as self-perception. British scientists from the Anglia Ruskin University, led by Cari-lène Mul, conducted an experiment to create the illusion of an out-of-body experience in order to investigate autistic people’s sense of the boundaries of their own bodies and compare them with non-autistic people.
Experiments to imitate out-of-body experiences are used to study their effect on the brain and human behavior. However, this is the first time such an experiment has been conducted on people with a severe personality disorder such as autism. During the experiment, 51 participants, 22 of whom were diagnosed as being on the autism spectrum, had to identify themselves with their virtual body, broadcast through virtual reality glasses.
The results of the experiment left the scientists somewhat perplexed. It turned out that the out-of-body effect was not very pronounced in people with the personality disorder. Autistic people did not perceive the virtual avatar as their own body and could not experience the illusion of an out-of-body experience.
According to the researchers, this result is explained by a lack of self-esteem and bodily awareness. It can also shed light on why people with this disorder do not maintain social distance with others. The study’s authors claim that the boundaries of their “I” in space are much smaller than those of ordinary people, which can affect their interaction with the world in a disruptive manner. There is no research yet on whether this affects how autistic people perceive other phase states – whether they may have lucid dreams or experience sleep paralysis. However, such research could reveal the nature of personality and social disorders even further.
The study was published in 2019 in the journal Autism.
