Facilitating unusual bodily experiences and out-of-body experiences across wakefulness and sleep: A high-density EEG and neurophenomenology study
Teresa Campillo-Ferrer, Antonella Iadarola, Ramona Cordani, Marco Veneruso, Çağatay Demirel, Lino Nobili, Robert Oostenveld
Consciousness and Cognition February 11, 2026 DOI: 10.1016/j.concog.2026.104002 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Observational study Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 35 |
| Population | Healthy participants |
| Interventions | meditation light stimulation |
| Topics | Lucid dreaming Meditation |
| Keywords | Wakefulness Electroencephalography Perception Consciousness Sleep system call Audiology Cognitive psychology Photic stimulation Psychophysiology Developmental psychology Sleep stages |
| Key findings | Unusual bodily experiences emerge during intermediate states of consciousness that combine EEG features of both wakefulness and sleep, marked by increased high-frequency activity and decreased low-frequency activity, particularly in temporal regions. |
Abstract
Unusual bodily experiences (UBEs) are illusory bodily perceptions that are not coherent with typical wakeful experiences, including flying or floating sensations, body distortions, and out-of-body experiences. This study examines UBEs in a controlled sleep laboratory using meditation and light stimulation to facilitate their occurrence. A total of N = 35 healthy participants underwent high-density EEG, with additional EMG, EOG, and ECG recordings. Participants signalled UBEs by performing left-right-left-right eye movements, providing an objective marker for analysis. Interviews adapted from the micro-phenomenological technique were conducted to capture detailed subjective reports and to guide subsequent sleep and EEG analyses. Of the 35 participants, N = 20 reported a total of n = 36 UBEs, occurring primarily during meditation (wakefulness) but also during sleep arousals, rapid eye-movement (REM) sleep and non-REM sleep. Spectral EEG analyses and generalized linear mixed models were used to investigate the neural correlates of these experiences, suggesting that UBEs emerge during intermediate states of consciousness combining EEG features of both wakefulness and sleep. Specifically, exploratory EEG analyses showed that UBEs across sleep and wakefulness were associated with EEG reactivation, marked by increased high-frequency activity (beta and gamma) and decreased low-frequency activity (delta and theta), with a particularly pronounced effect around temporal regions. Collectively, these results provide novel insights into the EEG correlates associated with UBEs and contribute to a deeper understanding of self-consciousness and body perception across sleep and wakefulness.