Sometimes we think we know everything about a phenomenon, and then a discovery comes around that turns everything upside down. A person having an out-of-body experience can feel like they are outside the physical body and are sometimes even able to look at it from the outside. Scientists explain this phenomenon by a disruption to the process of perception of one’s own body. This effect can be caused, for example, by mental illness, sleep paralysis, exposure to certain drugs, etc. At the same time, phase practitioners deliberately induce out-of-body experiences up to several times a week or even overnight.
It would seem that science has long known the reasons behind this phenomenon. Many studies point to the temporoparietal junction, which is the region of the brain that is responsible for our perception of ourselves in space, as the main responsible party. It integrates visual, vestibular, and somatosensory (touch) signals so that we feel oneness with our body and its boundaries. When this mechanism is disturbed, the perception of our body changes, which can lead to a sensation of leaving the body.
However, Japanese scientists led by Kentaro Hiromitsu of the University of Tokyo described an interesting medical case that could expand our understanding of the nature of this phenomenon. A 46-year-old female patient had an out-of-body experience after being diagnosed with a brain tumor. This was her first out-of-body experience. She saw her body separate from herself while cooking in the kitchen. It appeared hyper-real and completely motionless.
The patient clearly distinguished the observing body (subject) from the observed body (object) and even sketched her experience. However, there was a curious twist to the story. Immediately after the operation, these sensations stopped. According to scientists, the cause of the woman’s out-of-body experience was the lesion of the posterior cingulate gyrus of her cerebral cortex. Little is known about this part of the brain and its functions, but scientists suggest that it is involved in spatial orientation, which was the reason for the out-of-body experience.
Scientists have been trying to develop a device that could induce phase states for quite some time. Perhaps this discovery could provide a key to solving this long-standing problem.
The study was published in March 2020 in the Journal of Neuropsychology.
