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Tiger Beer
Joined: 07 Feb 2003
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 Posted: Fri Aug 24, 2007 12:54 am Post subject: Scientists recreate out-of-body experiences (no drugs) |
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Scientists recreate out-of-body experiences (no drugs)
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070823/ts_alt_afp/usscienceparanormal
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Now neuroscientists have manipulated a group of perfectly healthy volunteers into thinking they had moved outside their bodies by distorting their perception of reality.
Using virtual reality goggles to mix up the sensory signals reaching the brain, they induced the volunteers into projecting their awareness into a virtual body. Participants confirmed they had experienced sitting behind their physical body and looking at it.
The illusion was so strong that the volunteers reacted with a palpable sense of fear when their virtual selves were threatened with physical force.
The findings suggest there may be a scientific explanation for these types of out-of-body experiences, which are often thought of as delusional or paranormal, and the scientists believe their research could have important applications.
"The invention of this illusion is important because it reveals the basic mechanism that produces the feeling of being inside the physical body," said Ehrsson.
"This represents a significant advance because the experience of one's own body as the center of awareness is a fundamental aspect of self-consciousness."
And inducing people to have out-of-body experiences could have wide-ranging uses, he believes.
"This is essentially a means of projecting yourself, a form of teleportation. If we can project people into a virtual character, so they feel and respond as if they were really in a virtual version of themselves, just imagine the implications.
"The experience of video games could reach a whole new level, but it could go much beyond that. For example, a surgeon could perform remote surgery, by controlling their virtual self from a different location." |
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mindmetoo
Joined: 02 Feb 2004
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| Posted: Fri Aug 24, 2007 4:14 am Post subject: |
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I do believe there's evidence the brain has a function that gives one a sense of yourself in the world as viewed by another person. It doesn't take a lot, for example, to quickly mentally picture yourself in your chair in front of your computer. Makes sense. "Hmmm am I obvious to a predator? How would the predator view me?"
Anyway, certain drugs, deprivation states, electrical stimulation, can short circuit this and produce a state where you're out of your body and viewing yourself. |
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