Laboratory set-up for OBEs and projections

Abstract

Eye-to-eye gazing under low-level illumination provides a controlled laboratory paradigm for investigating out-of-body experiences (OBEs) and psychological projections. In the present study, a large sample of healthy participants ( N = 398) completed a dyadic gazing task. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) conducted on nine items of the Strange-Face Questionnaire (SFQ) yielded a three-factor solution: (i) facial visual deformations (Derealization / Detachment-of-Reality; DR factor); (ii) out-of-body experiences (OBE factor); and (iii) apparitional projections of “ancestors” (Projection factor). Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) and Path Analysis were employed to test the relationships among these constructs. Results demonstrated that OBEs play a pivotal role in facilitating the projection of “ancestors” onto the partner’s face, revealing a direct predictive path from disembodiment (OBE) to projective phenomena. This pathway generalized to other apparitional percepts, including the projection of a “child,” “adolescent,” or “monster.” Path Analyses further indicated that external reality serves a broader function than merely triggering perceptual distortions; rather, it operates as a “gate” regulating the inhibition versus excitation of internal projections depending on whether the projective content is “positive” (ancestor, adolescent, child) or “negative” (monster). We hypothesize that interoceptive/proprioceptive embodied simulation–driven by non-conscious, premotor mimicry of the partner’s facial expressions and respiratory rhythm–provides the somatic scaffolding required to bind elements from memory into multimodal consciousness. This mechanism allows the mind to dynamically shift processing between exteroceptive facial input, autobiographical memory, inherited facial engrams, and archetypal facial images. Finally, this research bridges experimental psychology with analytical psychology by mapping the projected figures of ancestor, adolescent, child, and monster onto Jung’s core archetypes: the Wise Master ( Philemon/Baucis ), Perennial Youth ( Anima/Animus ), the Divine Child ( Puer Aeternus ), and the Shadow, respectively. “Positive” versus “negative” archetypes were operationalized using Path Analysis. Finally, Network Analysis maps the systemic interconnectedness among all seven archetypal projections identified across the SFQ items–which, in addition to the four core archetypes, include Hermaphroditus , Animal , and Lapis .