Brain scans reveal out-of-body illusion

www.sciencedaily.com...

Neuroscientists have created an out-of-body illusion in participants placed inside a brain scanner. They then used the illusion to perceptually 'teleport' the participants to different locations in a room and show that the perceived location of the bodily self can be decoded from activity patterns in specific brain regions.

I couldn't help but chuckle when I read this article. Neuroscientists have known for several decades that an individual's 'sense of presence' can be tricked through magnetic manipulation of the brain. Dr. Michael Persinger was quite famous for these studies. I have worked with Dr. Persinger's 'God Helmet' in relation to other types of neurological research.

I have to say, of all the various types of business that I am engaged in, neurological research has to be the one I'm most passionate about. The human brain never ceases to amaze me. If only I could spend all my time there...

Disclaimer - I don't recommend anyone go zapping their brain with magnetic field stimulation as this may have serious consequences to your health.

a reply to: CIAGypsy
I saw something quite a few years ago on the BBC's Horizon program, they messed with a guys head using magnets and he swore his legs were getting longer, much longer!

No need for L-S-D anymore, just go score some magnets

originally posted by: CIAGypsy
www.sciencedaily.com...

Disclaimer - I don't recommend anyone go zapping their brain with magnetic field stimulation as this may have serious consequences to your health.

Give up the bloody mobile then...and who put that high tension pylon on my lawn?

originally posted by: VoidHawk
a reply to: CIAGypsy
I saw something quite a few years ago on the BBC's Horizon program, they messed with a guys head using magnets and he swore his legs were getting longer, much longer!

No need for L-S-D anymore, just go score some magnets

a reply to: smurfy

lol...well, luckily the cell phone won't hurt you.

High tension power lines, that might be another story. While there is no definitive proof that they are dangerous, I wouldn't live under one. Can't say I've ever seen an energy exec offer to live next to one either....

a reply to: yuppa

Mushrooms, my friend....the answer is mushrooms.

a reply to: CIAGypsy

Our camper broke down under one, while pulling a boat. Shocked us bad anytime we would jump in the boat to hangout waiting for roadside. Did not feel right under them with an sound that was pretty creepy coming from them.

a reply to: CIAGypsy
So basically they have achieved what every voodoo witch doctor, or even pot heads, and every one and anyone who has gotten glimpses through the key hole at conscious for centuries have known.... Hmm quite a feat that.

Ah! Just messing. Its semi impressive, but not really.

Neuroscientists have known for several decades that an individual's 'sense of presence' can be tricked through magnetic manipulation of the brain.

But that isn't what's happening in this experiment.

To elicit the illusion, the scientist touches the participant's body with an object in synchrony with identical touches being delivered to the stranger's body, in full view of the participant.

It's like this effect:


In the experiment the brain scanner was used only to locate where in the brain the sensation occurred, it did not to induce the sensation.



I've been "fortunate" enough to have had a couple of MRI scans of my head. In spite of that hefty magnetic field, I never felt any sensation of any sort, except boredom.

a reply to: Phage

You are correct... I hadn't read beyond the first paragraph so I incorrectly assumed this was an experiment similar to Persinger's.

However, this statement holds all kinds of potential to those of us who study it:

Our results are important because they represent the first characterization of the brain areas that are involved in shaping the perceptual experience of the bodily self in space.

One of the brain regions from which the participants' perceived self-location could be decoded was the hippocampus -- the structure in which the Nobel Prize awarded 'place cells' have been identified.

"This finding is particularly interesting because it indicates that place cells are not only involved in navigation and memory encoding, but are also important for generating the conscious experience of one's body in space," says principal investigator Henrik Ehrsson, professor at the Department of Neuroscience.

a reply to: CIAGypsy
Yes. Learning the locations of the brain which process perceptual information is indeed fascinating. It also carries the potential to improve understanding (and perhaps treatment) of certain pathologies.

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov...

The lead researcher is a PhD candidate. Here is the paper.

Our results suggest that an interconnected set of regions in the hippocampus and the posterior cingulate, retrosplenial, and intraparietal cortices plays an important role in the construction of this fundamental subjective feeling of self.

The location of self awareness, the "soul", has been discovered!

It actually seems to be a very well designed experiment.
130.237.111.254...

originally posted by: Phage
The lead researcher is a PhD candidate. Here is the paper.

Our results suggest that an interconnected set of regions in the hippocampus and the posterior cingulate, retrosplenial, and intraparietal cortices plays an important role in the construction of this fundamental subjective feeling of self.

The location of self awareness, the "soul", has been discovered!

It actually seems to be a very well designed experiment.
130.237.111.254...

yeah it has !

Scientists knew years ago that the Hippocampus was used to store map and location data. Taxi drivers who had gained "the knowledge" of all the streets in a city had an enlarged Hippocampus. This was discovered during MRI scans.

This region of the brain also has direct data paths from the optic nerves, so it can deduce location from the limited information available through edge detection and color. Just from these alone, it's possible to figure out which landmark is visible, the observers relative location to that landmark and then relative to the rest of the world.

a reply to: stormcell

This experiment shows that it is more complex and subtle than that. It is not just the hippocampus which becomes active during "self locating" brain activity.
www.abovetopsecret.com...

originally posted by: Kapusta

originally posted by: Phage
The lead researcher is a PhD candidate. Here is the paper.

Our results suggest that an interconnected set of regions in the hippocampus and the posterior cingulate, retrosplenial, and intraparietal cortices plays an important role in the construction of this fundamental subjective feeling of self.

The location of self awareness, the "soul", has been discovered!

It actually seems to be a very well designed experiment.
130.237.111.254...

yeah it has !

OMG I can't stop laughing!

Why are they calling it illusion? How can they know it is illusion?
What if it is real OOBE? What if you can pull someone out with strong magnet?

I dare them to use the strongest magnet on earth and use it on someones head, i m sure that person soul will be pulled out and i m kind of sure that this person will most probably not come back in the body (body will die).

Soul = Energy
Magnet = attracts or push energy

So it is kind of very stupid to call this test a illusion. (or it is not, because there is no proof that soul exist, so they cant say: Scientist manage to pull people soul out of the body with magnet)

What will church say if the title of test say that?

a reply to: saadad

Why are they calling it illusion? How can they know it is illusion? What if it is real OOBE? What if you can pull someone out with strong magnet?

Maybe you should read the article.
Nothing was done with a strong magnet. And the creation of the illusion is quite clearly explained.

originally posted by: saadad
I dare them to use the strongest magnet on earth and use it on someones head, i m sure that person soul will be pulled out and i m kind of sure that this person will most probably not come back in the body (body will die).

Wow. I don't even know where to begin....

That kind of sounds like the plot to some terrible B-movie.

originally posted by: Phage
a reply to: saadad

Why are they calling it illusion? How can they know it is illusion? What if it is real OOBE? What if you can pull someone out with strong magnet?

Maybe you should read the article.
Nothing was done with a strong magnet. And the creation of the illusion is quite clearly explained.

I like how they call this an illusion and all but it still in some cases where NDE'd can see and recall things that happened after they were dead.. in different areas to where their carcass was laying..

So are they going to 'illusion' that also?