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
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Within-subjects experimental comparison |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 15 |
| Population | High hypnotizable subjects |
| Topics | Philosophy of mind |
| Key findings | Hypnotically induced out-of-body experiences produce stronger phenomenological changes and decreased beta and gamma power in right parieto-temporal areas compared to imagination-induced OBEs. |
Abstract
Inducing out-of-body experiences in hypnosis (H-OBEs) offers an almost unique opportunity to investigate them in a controlled condition.OBEs were induced as imaginative task in resting conditions (I-OBE) or in hypnosis (H-OBE) in 15 high hypnotizable subjects. A 32-channel EEG was recorded and the spectral power and imaginary coherence were calculated. At the end of each session, the Phenomenology of Consciousness Inventory (PCI) was administered to check the phenomenological aspects of their 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 to a significant decrease of power in beta and gamma band activity in right parieto-temporal derivations. Our result suggest that H-OBE may be an appealing model of “true” OBEs, including an alteration of multisensory integration in right parieto-temporal brain areas.
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
Cites 37
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- Out‐of‐body experience and autoscopy of neurological origin Brain January 15, 2004
- Impact of meditation training on the default mode network during a restful state Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience March 24, 2012
- Increased default mode network connectivity associated with meditation Neuroscience Letters October 28, 2010
- Incidence and correlates of near-death experiences in a cardiac care unit General Hospital Psychiatry July 1, 2003
and 32 more in the library