THE NEUROPHENOMENOLOGY OF OUT-OF-BODY EXPERIENCES INDUCED BY HYPNOTIC SUGGESTIONS
Enrico Facco, Edoardo Casiglia, Benedikt Emanuel Al Khafaji, Francesco Finatti, Gian Marco Duma, Giovanni Mento, Luciano Pederzoli, Patrizio Tressoldi
International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis January 2, 2019 DOI: 10.1080/00207144.2019.1553762 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Experimental study Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 15 |
| Population | High hypnotizable subjects |
| Topics | Philosophy of mind |
| Keywords | Hypnosis Hypnotic susceptibility Consciousness Altered state Psychotherapist Electroencephalography Audiology Cognitive psychology |
| Citations | 38 |
| Key findings | Hypnotically induced out-of-body experiences produce stronger phenomenological effects and decreased beta and gamma band power in right parieto-temporal areas compared to imagination alone. |
Abstract
Inducing out-of-body experiences in hypnosis (H-OBEs) offers an almost unique opportunity to investigate them under controlled conditions. OBEs were induced as an imaginative task in a resting condition (I-OBE) or in hypnosis (H-OBE) in a group of 15 high hypnotizable subjects. A 32-channel EEG was recorded, and the spectral power and imaginary coherence of each frequency band and each couple of electrodes were calculated. At the end of each session, the Phenomenology of Consciousness Inventory (PCI) was administered to assess the phenomenological aspects of the subjects' experience. Significantly higher scores in the altered state, positive affect altered experience, and attention subdimensions of the PCI were reported in H-OBE than in I-OBE, which were associated with a significant decrease of power in beta and gamma band activity in right parieto-temporal derivations. These results suggest that the H-OBE may offer a useful experimental model of spontaneous OBEs.
Comparable studies
Other experimental studies on philosophy of mind, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| A Deep-Dream Virtual Reality Platform for Studying Altered Perceptual Phenomenology | 2017 | Experimental study | |
| New World Tryptamine Hallucinogens and the Neuroscience of Ayahuasca. | 2018 | Review with original neuroimaging and neurophysiological data | |
| Differential contributions of serotonergic and dopaminergic functional connectivity to the phenomenology of LSD Healthy adults | 2022 | Secondary analysis of experimental data | n = 15 |
| TMS-EEG and resting-state EEG applied to altered states of consciousness: oscillations, complexity, and phenomenology. | 2023 | Experimental study | |
| Training novice practitioners to reliably report their meditation experience using shared phenomenological dimensions. Novice meditation practitioners | 2019 | Neurophenomenological experiment |
Citations in the library
Cited by 19
- The Altered States Database: Psychometric data from a systematic literature review. Scientific Data November 23, 2022
- Neurophenomenology of near-death experience memory in hypnotic recall: a within-subject EEG study. Scientific Reports October 1, 2019
- The Role of Phenomenological Control in Experience Current Directions in Psychological Science February 21, 2023
- Dissociative identity as a continuum from healthy mind to psychiatric disorders: Epistemological and neurophenomenological implications approached through hypnosis. Medical Hypotheses September 1, 2019
- Spontaneous and induced out-of-body experiences during sleep paralysis: Emotions, "AURA" recognition, and clinical implications. Journal of Sleep Research February 1, 2023
and 14 more in the library
Cites 46
- Meditation experience is associated with differences in default mode network activity and connectivity Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences November 23, 2011
- The Experimental Induction of Out-of-Body Experiences Science August 23, 2007
- Out‐of‐body experience and autoscopy of neurological origin Brain January 15, 2004
- Near-death experience in survivors of cardiac arrest: a prospective study in the Netherlands The Lancet December 1, 2001
- The Near-Death Experience Scale The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease June 1, 1983
and 41 more in the library