Consciousness

• seCtIon FIVe: BoRDeRLAnDs
  Are these dualist conclusions warranted? Apart from
  efforts to detect the astral body or soul, some OBErs
  claim to be able to see events at a distance that they
  could not possibly have known about unless they were
  truly ‘out-of-body’. Yet despite many popular claims,
  reliable evidence for this too is lacking. Even the most
  famous of spontaneous cases tend to crumble on inves-
  tigation (Blackmore, 2017), and laboratory experiments
  testing for paranormal perception during the late twen-
  tieth century gained only rare hints of success and gar-
  nered much controversy (for reviews see Alvarado, 1982;
  Blackmore, 1982; Irwin, 1985). If such paranormal claims
  could be verified, they would dramatically change our
  understanding of OBEs and potentially of consciousness
  too, but the evidence so far is weak and there have been
  no more recent experiments of this kind.

OBES, CONSCIOUSNESS, AND NEUROSCIENCE

The alternative to astral projection or any other dualist theory is to say that, despite

how it feels, nothing actually leaves the body. Among theories of this kind, early

psychoanalytic theories described the OBE as a dramatisation of the fear of death,

regression of the ego, or reliving the trauma of birth, and Jung saw it as part of the

process of individuation. But such theories are largely untestable and have led to no

advances in our understanding.

Early psychological theories generally started from the finding that OBEs occur

when sensory input is reduced or disrupted, proposing different responses to this

disruption (Palmer, 1978; Irwin, 1985; Blackmore, 2009, 2017). For example, the cog-

nitive system might try to construct a new (if inaccurate) body image and a new

‘model of reality’ derived from memory and imagination, using the kinds of bird’s-

eye views that are common in memory and dreams. This was supported by evidence

that OBErs are better at spatial imagery and at switching viewpoints in imagery, and

more often dream in bird’s-eye view (Blackmore, 1996b). Once the necessary neuro-

science was available, the peculiarities of the OBE began to fall into place.

The temporal lobe has long been implicated in OBEs because temporal-lobe epi-

leptics report more OBEs as well as psychic and mystical experiences. The Cana-

dian neuroscientist Michael Persinger (1983, 1999) proposed that all religious and

mystical experiences are artefacts of temporal lobe function. He has succeeded in

inducing OBEs, body distortions, the sense of presence, and many other experi-

ences using his own version of TMS, with stimulation on the left side producing a

sense of presence and on the right side OBEs.

An early hint of a more precise connection was found accidentally in the 1930s when

American neurosurgeon Wilder Penfield electrically stimulated the brain of an epileptic

woman, trying to find the seizure focus. On one occasion, when stimulating her right

temporal lobe, she cried out ‘Oh God! I am leaving my body’ (Penfield, 1955, p. 458).

Over half a century later, with much finer electrodes and greater precision, a team of

neurosurgeons in Geneva achieved the same result with another epileptic patient.

‘we are talking about

the spot where the

mind, body, and spirit

interact’

(Morse, 1992, p. 211)

‘when parts of the

TPJ are not working

properly, the body

schema goes haywire

and an OBE results’

(Blackmore, 2017, p. 131)

When a weak current was passed through a subdural electrode on the

right angular gyrus, she reported sinking into the bed or falling from a

height. With increased current she said, ‘I see myself lying in bed, from

above, but I only see my legs and lower trunk’. This experience was induced

twice more, as were various body image distortions. The researchers

attributed her OBE to a failure to integrate somatosensory and vestibular

information caused by the stimulation (Blanke et al., 2002).

The specific area involved was the right temporoparietal junction

(TPJ). In this area visual, tactile, proprioceptive, and vestibular informa-

tion all come together to construct a body schema. This is the bodily

representation that is needed by all animals and is constantly updated

as we move about. It underlies our physical or bodily sense of self and

is integrated with emotions and memories, and with ideas about how

we appear to others, which all in turn contribute to generating our

body image and self image.

Several lines of research have converged to show how the OBE relates to self-pro-

cessing at the TPJ. Not only does direct stimulation of this spot induce OBEs,

but PET scanning has shown brain activation at the TPJ during OBEs induced by

stimulating the right temporal gyrus. The researchers conclude that ‘activation of

these regions is the neural correlate of the disembodiment that is part of the out-

of-body experience’ (de Ridder et al., 2007, p. 1829). Other evidence comes from

several patients who experience OBEs or autoscopy and have been found to have

damage to the TPJ (Blanke et al., 2004; Blanke and Arzy, 2005).

The right TPJ is also involved in perspective-taking, the ability to see things from

another’s point of view. A  visual test is the Own Body Transformation Task, which

entails looking at rotated human figures and

deciding which is their right hand. Evoked poten-

tial mapping shows selective activation of the TPJ

during this test, and interfering with the TPJ using

TMS makes this mental transformation more dif-

ficult (Blanke and Arzy, 2005). Yet there is much

doubt here.

If OBEs depend on ‘disturbed processing at the

TPJ’ or ‘disruption of vestibular-motor integration’

(Wilkins, Girard, and Cheyne, 2011), then OBErs

might be expected to do worse at perspec-

tive-taking. But we noted earlier some evidence

of the opposite, and British psychologist Jason

Braithwaite has argued that rather than implying

failure, ‘genuine OBEs should not be regarded

as a flaw in the system of certain individuals but

as “the other side of the coin” of full-blown per-

spective taking’ (Kessler and Braithwaite, 2016, p.

423). In this case, OBErs might do better at tasks involving perspective-taking, as

they did in early experiments on changing viewpoints (Blackmore, 1996b). Jason

Braithwaite and colleagues (2013) devised an improved version of the OBT and

found that OBErs did perform better. Whether OBEs reveal a skill or a flaw is very

much an open question.

‘The soul is the

OBE-PSM’

(Metzinger, 2009, p. 85)

FIGURE 15.14 • The most obvious theory of
OBEs is that a spirit, soul, or
astral body leaves the physical
and can travel without it. This
faces serious problems. What
is the phantom made of? How
does it communicate with the
physical body? Does it travel in
the physical world or a replica
world of thoughts? How can it
gain information from the world
without eyes and ears, and
without being detected?