Out of body and near death experiences

Out of body and near death experiences

1. Outline

   • A pereption of floating outside one's body, or being able to see one's body from an exterior place.
   • Three areas of the brain associated to OBEs are the temporal lobe, parietal lobe and angular gyrus.

2. Research

   • Blanke et al 2005 - Found that OBEs were simulated in particpants with no history of OBEs by electrical stimulation of the right temporal-parietal brain area, suggesting a biological explanation.
   • Ehrsson et al 2007 - Stimulated OBEs using virtual - reality googles. Participants were then touched which made Ps believe that they were have an OBE.
   • Van Lommel et al 2001 - Studied 344 Ps who had been sucessfully resucitated after having heart attacks. 18% reported having a NDE during a period of low brain activity.
   • Irwin 1985 - Reported that OBEs occur with either very little or very high arousal.
     • Green 1968 - Found that 75% of Ps who experienced OBEs had very low arousal levels.
   • Greyson 1997 - Reported that during cardioverter-defibrillator implantations doctors induce heart attacks with pictures on the wall. During post-op recovery Ps guessed the image that was displayed on the wall and no results beyond chance occurence were found.
   • Gow, Lang and Chant 2004 - link belief in OBEs to personality – those who had experiences of OBEs were more ‘fantasy prone’, had greater belief in the paranormal and showed more somatoform dissociation – characteristics of believers.

3. Evaluation

   • Blackmore 1982 - Believed that OBEs occur if a person loses contact with sesnory inputs and perceptions occur from elsewhere whilst still awake.
   • Blackmore 2007 - Praised Ehrsson's 2007 research
   • Practical application - creating video games that give a high sense of reality.
   • Moody 1998 - After years of studying NDEs concluded that they were wonderful experiences for the people who had them.
     • However 15% of people who experienced NDEs described them as hellish.
   • Interpreted as a religious experience - many people report entering into a tunnel of light.