Autoscopic phenomena—the illusion of seeing a second own body in external space—take three forms: autoscopic hallucination, heautoscopy, and out-of-body experience. Using lesion network mapping in 26 neurological patients, all three forms localized to a common brain network centered on the bilateral temporo-parietal junction. Each type also showed distinct functional connectivity patterns: out-of-body experiences connected to the angular gyrus, precuneus, and inferior frontal gyrus; autoscopic hallucinations to the precuneus, inferior temporal gyrus, and cerebellum; heautoscopy to the left inferior frontal gyrus, insula, and parahippocampus. The temporo-parietal junction is the core region for all autoscopic phenomena, with each form recruiting additional sensorimotor and self-related subnetworks.
A 10-year-old patient with right temporoparietal epilepsy experienced both a partial own-body illusion (somatoparaphrenia) and a full own-body illusion (out-of-body experience) sequentially during a single epileptic seizure. This is the first documented case of out-of-body experiences in a child with focal epilepsy. The co-occurrence suggests that partial and full own-body illusions share functional and neuroanatomical properties, highlighting the right temporoparietal junction's role in bodily self-consciousness.
A 33-year-old man with a right frontal lobe oligodendroglioma experienced complex partial seizures involving a feeling of being projected outside his body, dissociation of mind and self from body (disembodiment), and vestibular vertigo. The case distinguishes these ictal symptoms from autoscopic phenomena such as out-of-body experiences, heautoscopy, and autoscopic hallucinations, and from vestibular phenomena of epileptic origin. The neural origins are discussed in relation to vestibular and multisensory cortical mechanisms of bodily self-consciousness in the temporoparietal and frontal cortex.