Out-of-body memory encoding causes third-person perspective at recall
Loretxu Bergouignan, Lars Nyberg, H. Ehrsson
Journal of Cognitive Psychology September 30, 2021 DOI: 10.1080/20445911.2021.1958823 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Experimental study Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Intervention | out-of-body illusion |
| Duration | Encoding session with recall approximately 1 week later |
| Key findings | Events encoded during an out-of-body illusion were recalled from a first-person perspective significantly less often than events encoded in an in-body control condition, indicating that third-person perspective in memory can originate from the encoding experience. |
Abstract
ABSTRACT Sigmund Freud famously noted some memories are recalled with a perspective of “an observer from outside the scene”. According to Freud—and most memory researchers today—the third-person perspective occurs due to reconstructive processes at recall. An alternative possibility is that the third-person perspective have been adopted when the actual event is experienced and later recalled in its original form. Here we test this hypothesis using a perceptual out-of-body illusion during the encoding of real events. Participants took part in a social interaction while experiencing an out-of-body illusion where they viewed the event and their own body from a third-person perspective. In recall sessions ∼1 week later, events encoded in the out-of-body compared to the in-body control condition were significantly less recalled from a first-person perspective. An out-of-body experience leads to more third-person perspective during recollection.