MRI machine records and explains "out of body experiences"

[nicehat]

 

 

University of Ottawa researchers were able to find and study an undergraduate woman with no brain abnormalities who was able to experience out of body hallucinations at will. The woman was hooked up to a plethora of scanning machines, put through an MRI during the out of body event and interviewed before and afterwards. After the event the woman described herself as floating above and able to observe herself completely unaware of her physical body.

 

In her own words:

 

“I feel myself moving, or, more accurately, can make myself feel as if I am moving. I know perfectly well that I am not actually moving. There is no duality of body and mind when this happens, not really. In fact, I am hyper-sensitive to my body at that point, because I am concentrating so hard on the sensation of moving. I am the one moving – me – my body. For example, if I ‘spin’ for long enough, I get dizzy. I do not see myself above my body. Rather, my whole body has moved up. I feel it as being above where I know it actually is. I usually also picture myself as moving up in my mind’s eye, but the mind is not substantive. It does not move unless the body does.”

 

While the patient described the floating event, the MRI indeed showed an altered brain activity consistent with patients in a comatose or semi comatose state. The MRI recorded a de-activated visual cortex (back of your head) which is one of the terminal points of visual signals from the eyes. When deactivated, the body loses its orientation and relation to the world at large. This may not be the case with the blind as other senses like the inner ear are more adapt at 3D spatial orientation. 

 

Here we see areas of the visual cortex being deactivated

 

Here we see different parts of the brain being activated during the out of body expereience

 

 

With this information, researchers believe that out of body experiences are essentially hallucinations (defined by a certain stimulus being interpreted when none originally existed ex hearing voices, when none are apparent). These hallucinations seem to be triggered by a combination of neurological mechanisms involving activations of certain parts of the brain responsible for motor movement and deactivation of others like the visual cortex. 

 

For anyone who have heard stories of people experiencing out of body experiences while at the hospital, you should know that this may be an elaborate hallucination rather than the "soul". In any case, they are probably telling the truth

 

http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fnhum.2014.00070/full

 

 

slightly OFFTOPIC RANT:

Now I just want to rant a bit here. With the exception of a few better known members, many of the tech news posts are just quotes, links, and utter pieces of trash. I put a bit of effort into this, and would like to see a bit of actual effort being put into news section posts instead of this bullshit First post mentality. Posting a direct quote/a line or two of your own, and a source link makes you an asshole. Spark discussion and put some goddamn effort into it.

 

Scroll down and take a look at the first 20-30 news post submissions and with a few exceptions, you will see the current state of our LTT News section

[Guest GRRigger]

Have you ever had turning feeling / rotating feeling before you fell asleep? Its similar.

Basicly, if you turn on any sence, you brain makes something up. If you went to silent room, your mind would make noises. Also, the sences also get much more intense and sensitive.

 

Also interesting effect is when your mind wakes up and body doesnt. Happened to me twice if i remember correcly.

You wake up, open eyes, and realize you cant move your body. Scary really. Very. Its called sleep paralisys i belive.

 

Actually you can (try) to recreate or at least feel out of body experience.

Key is to get relaxed. 1. in bed tense all you muscles one by one and release 2. breath deep, slowly exhale, but dont hyperinflate

3. a warm/hot shower before bed is very relaxing and bound to make you sleepy, your inner temperature drops.

close your eyes and try not to fall asleep.

 

also, if someone is practicing to get Lucid Dreams, they might have out of body experience also. havent done it in years, nor had i had any in years

[brownninja97]

I cant prove that its true but about 3 years ago i had a dream that i was inside my friend, oddly enough id never seen his house or his parents yet when i went to his house a few weeks later it was just as i remembered

[Guest GRRigger]

I cant prove that its true but about 3 years ago i had a dream that i was inside my friend, oddly enough id never seen his house or his parents yet when i went to his house a few weeks later it was just as i remembered

memory can be such a cunning thing. you actually went there first, after that you had a dream.

i have same memory, about a bunny rabbit toy i got when i was a kid. i thought i dreamed about it befor i got it.

 

Key here is, you only think - key word here is think - that dream happened before, because it was so far ago.

 

We often dream what we experience, actually thats the main thing, the other thing is immagination

 

Also, my, by far, weirdest and most peculiar memory is about a movie i saw long time ago when i was a kid.

I dont even know if it was actually a movie or just dreams. I only remember sections. Often tried to search for it, no success. I tell you, total mindfuck.

[brownninja97]

memory can be such a cunning thing. you actually went there first, after that you had a dream.

i have same memory, about a bunny rabbit toy i got when i was a kid. i thought i dreamed about it befor i got it.

 

Key here is, you only think - key word here is think - that dream happened before, because it was so far ago.

 

We often dream what we experience, actually thats the main thing, the other thing is immagination

 

Also, my, by far, weirdest and most peculiar memory is about a movie i saw long time ago when i was a kid.

I dont even know if it was actually a movie or just dreams. I only remember sections. Often tried to search for it, no success. I tell you, total mindfuck.

My point is that i remember the dream before i went to the friends house. I remember how i was in awe that i knew my friends house, i even went to his room without him guiding me and i walked home in a confused mood wandering what in the name of fuck just happened.

[nicehat]

memory can be such a cunning thing. you actually went there first, after that you had a dream.

i have same memory, about a bunny rabbit toy i got when i was a kid. i thought i dreamed about it befor i got it.

 

Key here is, you only think - key word here is think - that dream happened before, because it was so far ago.

 

We often dream what we experience, actually thats the main thing, the other thing is immagination

 

The thing is, dreams are closely related to "seeing". When you undergo REM, you usually dream. Now when you turn off the part of your brain that interprets what you see, funny things like the above woman's hallucination happen. Alot oftheories hold that deja vu is not really deja vu in the sense that you have been here/seen this before. Alot of your "remembered" dreams are bits, pieces and artifacts of a dream that your brain reconstructs with more relevant information, desires or wishes. Your memory bank/hippocampus fills in the blanks of a fragmented dream or delusion to make sense of it, giving you a false perception of reality. 

[LAwLz]

I cant prove that its true but about 3 years ago i had a dream that i was inside my friend, oddly enough id never seen his house or his parents yet when i went to his house a few weeks later it was just as i remembered

That's called Déjà vu and there is a logical explanation for it.

 

We have had solid evidence for OBE being bullshit for quite some time now. Not only have we been able to recreate the same experience using machines such as centrifugal force machines for ages now, but doctors have also placed big messages on top of things in operation rooms, and nobody who have had an OBE has ever said they saw the message. It's always "I saw my beloved crying for me, and I saw my own body".

It's always nice to have even more evidence though.

[Guest GRRigger]

My point is that i remember the dream before i went to the friends house. I remember how i was in awe that i knew my friends house, i even went to his room without him guiding me and i walked home in a confused mood wandering what in the name of fuck just happened.

You sure you werent there befor or seen the building?

 

In Real Life, you went there, and you just walked in his room without you helping you? Was there like a hall with all same doors? Any visual clues that it might be his room (bedroom)

Do you remember: Did you stop and see his house the day when you were there and think that the day before you have dreamed the exact same house?

[Sky Daddy]

It doesn't help that we can't tell what's real and what's not.

[techswede]

I cant prove that its true but about 3 years ago i had a dream that i was inside my friend, 

I've had that dream too... waait.. *ehm*

 

Sorry... that wording was just too good to pass up

On a serious note i think i've had some out of body experiences. 

For instance, One time i dreamed that i was at some café. And then i went to denmark and ended up at that exact café. The banana split was just as epic too

If that's the type of thing this was directed at. I've had tons of the bloody things

 

And i get random lucid dreams.  

[martinrox1568]

i don't really mind the quoting of topics. I know some people get angry about them, but as long as i am getting the news and understanding it, then whats the problem? (not trying to be disrespectful, but I genuinely don't understand the fuss and would be interested as to what it really is.)

[nicehat]

i don't really mind the quoting of topics. I know some people get angry about them, but as long as i am getting the news and understanding it, then whats the problem? (not trying to be disrespectful, but I genuinely don't understand the fuss and would be interested as to what it really is.)

 

When people talk about contributing to the LTT forums, I feel that it should mean a bit more than posting 1,500 source links, news quotes and a line or two just to get their post count up. Even if it's not about posts, we should have a bit of quality in our news reporting. Right now, I see a bunch of people trying to put stuff out first, for the sake of being first or getting credit on the wan show. There is very little quality and substance around here. Posts arnt organized, no pictures, theres little evidence of the OP understanding the topic, and no dialogue inducing thoughts on the matter...Just a bunch of people throwing regurgitated shyte at the wall and hoping something sticks...literally   

[martinrox1568]

When people talk about contributing to the LTT forums, I feel that it should mean a bit more than posting 1,500 source links, news quotes and a line or two just to get their post count up. Even if it's not about posts, we should have a bit of quality in our news reporting. Right now, I see a bunch of people trying to put stuff out first, for the sake of being first or getting credit on the wan show. There is very little quality and substance around here. Posts arnt organized, no pictures, theres little evidence of the OP understanding the topic, and no dialogue inducing thoughts on the matter...Just a bunch of people throwing regurgitated shyte at the wall and hoping something sticks...literally   

thanks i feel like i understand the problem more now. It would be nice having every topic have a picture plus the article and making the entire subforum a  bit more organized

[Kamina]

I've had sleep paralysis and an out of body experience. Both were pretty creepy to me. Anyway, our perception is our own reality.

[qwertywarrior]

did we already know this

i thought DMT did this if im not mistaken 

[Guest GRRigger]

did we already know this

i thought DMT did this if im not mistaken 

DMT releases in deep sleep ( i think ) and before you die

you arent in deep sleep when you have out of body experience

and i belive DMT is hallucinogen

[Umeshwarnath]

deja vu is probably us starting off again at the last savegame! trust me!

its happend to me several times...where in i could tell exactly where things were when i visit some place for the first time! and other insances where i was pretty sure what was gonna happen next ,like in precise detail! kinda freaks me out when that happens! "total mindfuck" ,it is!!

[beebskadoo]

The brain is a weird thing!

[Alex780]

My grandfather has alzeimer and has deja vu all the time

[KakaoDj]

My point is that i remember the dream before i went to the friends house. I remember how i was in awe that i knew my friends house, i even went to his room without him guiding me and i walked home in a confused mood wandering what in the name of fuck just happened.

Has happened to me too, my brain was kinda fked up at that period of my life (family said i blacked out a lot and stuff). I can't seem to remember much of that period though  :huh:

[DudeWazap]

Have you ever had turning feeling / rotating feeling before you fell asleep? Its similar.

Basicly, if you turn on any sence, you brain makes something up. If you went to silent room, your mind would make noises. Also, the sences also get much more intense and sensitive.

Also interesting effect is when your mind wakes up and body doesnt. Happened to me twice if i remember correcly.

You wake up, open eyes, and realize you cant move your body. Scary really. Very. Its called sleep paralisys i belive.

Actually you can (try) to recreate or at least feel out of body experience.

Key is to get relaxed. 1. in bed tense all you muscles one by one and release 2. breath deep, slowly exhale, but dont hyperinflate

3. a warm/hot shower before bed is very relaxing and bound to make you sleepy, your inner temperature drops.

close your eyes and try not to fall asleep.

also, if someone is practicing to get Lucid Dreams, they might have out of body experience also. havent done it in years, nor had i had any in years

I have experienced sleep paralysis many times aswell. It feels really weird.

[A/C]

I have experienced sleep paralysis many times aswell. It feels really weird.

 

That is one of the scariest things, that and lucid nightmares, ho-lee-shieeet.

 

 

Also, to you other guys who were mentioning deja-vu in previous posts, I remember seeing a Vsauce video a while back which pretty much set me straight on what deja-vu really is. It was very interesting to me because I experienced it a lot as a kid and teenager.

 

Here it is:

 

@LAwLz already posted it on page1.

[Lachrymal]

This kind of ties in somewhere about NDE's and after reading a few articles on it I began questioning why no one ever mentions the feeling of "complete happiness and love" and the scientific reason on why they feel this. Though I'm quite sure there some damned explanation for that too. Because science wants you to believe we are all dust in the wind and there is no god lol.

[LAwLz]

I began questioning why no one ever mentions the feeling of "complete happiness and love" and the scientific reason on why they feel this.

Ehh, what? You mean why we have ementions like happiness and why we fall in love?

We fall in love because our body wants to reproduce. Falling in love is simply just a very very strong attracting to another person. Usually you will fall in love with someone you think is a good person, because that will give the best offspring. If your body tells you "that person is a good match, and would give you good offspring" then you will feel love for that person. We have also discovered that you will feel more attracted to people which have very different immune systems that yourself (to avoid incest and to give your baby a stronger immune system). Anyway, love is pretty easily explained if you know some basic biology.

 

 

Because science wants you to believe we are all dust in the wind and there is no god lol.

That's not true. Science don't have an opinion or want you to "believe" anything. Science is just observations and explanations to different things. For example the things I discussed above is science. We observed a phenomenon we call love, a strong emotion. We then studied it and came up with an explanation to why it happens. That is all, and that is science.

The good thing about science is that you don't have to "believe" in it, because there is no "it". You know your computer? That is made up of a lot of scientific discoveries. Do you believe in your computer? That question sounds really weird, right? You're probably thinking something along the lines of "What you do mean "believe" in it? I can observe it and it works, what is there to "believe" in?", right? That's how silly it sounds when someone says they don't "believe" in science. There is nothing to "believe" in.

[Lachrymal]

Ehh, what? You mean why we have ementions like happiness and why we fall in love?

We fall in love because our body wants to reproduce. Falling in love is simply just a very very strong attracting to another person. Usually you will fall in love with someone you think is a good person, because that will give the best offspring. If your body tells you "that person is a good match, and would give you good offspring" then you will feel love for that person. We have also discovered that you will feel more attracted to people which have very different immune systems that yourself (to avoid incest and to give your baby a stronger immune system). Anyway, love is pretty easily explained if you know some basic biology.

 

 

That's not true. Science don't have an opinion or want you to "believe" anything. Science is just observations and explanations to different things. For example the things I discussed above is science. We observed a phenomenon we call love, a strong emotion. We then studied it and came up with an explanation to why it happens. That is all, and that is science.

The good thing about science is that you don't have to "believe" in it, because there is no "it". You know your computer? That is made up of a lot of scientific discoveries. Do you believe in your computer? That question sounds really weird, right? You're probably thinking something along the lines of "What you do mean "believe" in it? I can observe it and it works, what is there to "believe" in?", right? That's how silly it sounds when someone says they don't "believe" in science. There is nothing to "believe" in.

 

During NDE's this is a fairly common thing that a lot of them have felt.

 

As for the science comment. I was merely poking fun lol.