Out-of-Body Level of Experience Scale: Construction and First Validation
Patrizio Tressoldi, Bruno Abbondanza, Graham Nicholls, Gionata Pellegrini, Admir Serrano, Jade Shaw
PsyArXiv December 29, 2025 preprint DOI: 10.31234/osf.io/v4s2f_v2 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Scale development study using the Delphi method with comparison to previously published data |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 6 |
| Population | Six advanced out-of-body experiencers (AdvOBErs), compared with 113 externally induced out-of-body experiencers (EIOBErs) and 80 spontaneous out-of-body experiencers (SOBErs) from scientific papers |
| Measures | Out-of-Body Level of Experience Scale |
| Key points | The 48-item Out-of-Body Level of Experience Scale showed that advanced out-of-body experiencers scored roughly 10 times higher on OBE characteristics than externally induced or spontaneous experiencers. The latter groups, typically reporting only one brief OBE, mainly described feeling outside their body and rarely perceiving information beyond their physical location. The authors propose the scale as a methodological advance for more rigorous, comparable research. |
Abstract
Out-of-body experiences (OBEs), defined as the subjective sensation of having a personal identity separate from one's physical body, have captivated humanity across cultures and throughout history. While artificial induction techniques have provided valuable insights into the neural correlates of bodily self-consciousness, these artificially generated experiences often lack the perceptual and experiential characteristics of real OBEs. This study aimed to develop a practical tool for evaluating the phenomenological characteristics of OBEs, enabling the comparison of OBEs obtained through different methods. In collaboration with six advanced out-of-body experiencers (AdvOBErs), a 48-item scale was devised using the Delphi method, encompassing the perceptual, behavioral, experiential, and long-term effects of OBEs. The scores obtained from the AdvOBErs were compared with those obtained frpm 113 externally induced OBErs (EIOBErs) and 80 spontaneous out-of-body experiencers (SOBErs) retrieved from scientific papers. As expected, the mean of the OBE characteristics of AdvOBErs was approximately 10 times greater than the mean reported by EIOBErs and SOBErs, indicating many more opportunities to explore such a non-ordinary state of consciousness. In contrast, EIOBErs and SOBErs, usually with only one brief OBE, were only able to report the characteristic of feeling outside their body and, much less frequently, perceiving information beyond where their physical body was located. The Out-of-Body Level of Experience Scale represents a significant methodological advancement, paving the way for more rigorous and comparable research in the field.