A2 Psychology Out Of Body Experience

Starter activity: Relax and do NOT disturb others for one minute. v=LYTlQIRDFKI

What is it? Out of body experience (OOBEs): - the sensation of being awake and seeing your own body from a location outside your physical body - Blackmore (1982): an experience in which a person seems to perceive the world from a location outside the physical body.

What happens during OOBEs Looking down on their physical body See and hear events clearly Travel to other locations Last from a few seconds to several minutes Common feature of Near Death Experience

Types of OOBEs 1) Parasomatic: appears to themselves to be located in a duplicate body 2) Asomatic: does not appear to himself to be associated with a body, but just a disembodied consciousness

How many people experienced it? About 15-20% claim to have OOBEs

Types of people who are more prone to OOBEs For example: Fantasy Prone, easily hypnotized, Paranormal believers Evidence? Irwin (1985) reported that people who have OOBEs are more fantasy prone, score higher on hypnotisability and on dissociation (ability to separate different aspects of conscious ability). Evaluation: Gabbard and Twemlow (1984) No evidence to suggest people with OOBEs are mentally ill even though they feel like they are losing their mind.

When does OOBEs occur? Involuntary, Natural OOBEsDeliberate, Induced OOBEs AwakeHypnosis Sleep in a lucid- dream state (aware you are dreaming) Mental training ExhaustionElectrical brain stimulation (E.g. Blanke et al, see slide 15) StressHallucinogenic Drugs or mushrooms Illness/ Injury Severe physical trauma in a Near Death experience

OOBEs examples - Case: a 24-year-old woman can carry out voluntary out of body experience. She described her experience as being able to see herself rotating in the air above her body, lying flat, and rolling along with the horizontal plane. She reported sometimes watching herself move from above but remained aware of her unmoving “real” body. The participant reported no particular emotions linked to the experience.

OOBEs examples OOBEs are often used as a theme for popular culture: - Cartoons:

OOBEs examples -Films (usually put OOBEs and near death experience together): Just Like Heaven: M k&index=2&list=PLF7170FAE5407E0E7 If I stay:

Explanations 1 Paranormal: It suggests that something beyond our current understanding is happening. The only way to carry out OOBEs is by separating the mind or body.

Explanation 1 Naturally-occurring OOBEs: Green (1968) studied 400 personal accounts of OOBEs and classified them as parasomatic (appears to themselves to be located in a duplicate body) or sometimes asomatic (does not appear to himself to be associated with a body, but just a disembodied consciousness). She found 25% of the cases were associated with some kind of psychological stress and 12% occurred during sleep.

Explanation 1 Artificially induced OOBEs: Alvarado (1982) reviewed a range of lab studies where OOBEs were induced by various means, for example, relaxation, hypnosis, audio-visual stimulation. The participants were then asked to identify target objects out of sight of their physical body. In one experiment, Miss Z was able to read out a randomly selected five-digit number planed in another room. He then concluded that the evidence was weak although there were some striking results.

Evaluation 1 Paranormal explanation: Evidence does not support this explanation. For example, Alvarado’s review did not find evidence that the parasomatic body had physically moved out of the physical body. However, he acknowledged some exceptional cases but it might be explained in terms of suspect methodology, for example, the participant might have had an opportunity to see the target object prior to the test.

Explanations 2 Biological: It suggests that OOBEs are related to sensory disturbance. Study: Blackmore (1982) suggests that normally we view the world as if we were behind our eyes. In situations where sensory input breaks down, the brain attempts to reconstruct what we are seeing using memory and imagination. Memory images re often bird’s eye view so the constructed image usually appears to be viewing oneself from above.

Explanations 2 Study (Biological): Blanke et al (2002) accidently induced OOBEs in a women who suffered epilepsy by electrically stimulating the temporal- parietal junction (TPJ). They later studied neurologically normal objects as well. They found that stimulation of the TPJ using transcranial magnetic stimulation resulted in OOBEs whereas stimulation in other areas do not.

Explanations 2 Study (Biological): -Ehrsson created OOBEs by scrambling a person’s visual and touch sensations by placing a pair of video displays in front of a participant’s eyes. The display show a live film relayed by two video cameras that are 2m behind the participants so that they can see their own back. He then place 1 rod on the participant’s chest and another on where the illusory body would be located just below the camera’s view.

Explanations 2 Study (Biological): -Ehrsson’s study: Participants reported feeling that they were sitting behind their physical body and looking at it from that location. He then tested the reality of the illusion by threatening the illusory body and found that participants displayed a physiological fear response. -Video: - -2:50 – 8:37 -14:10 – 23:40

Evaluation 2 Biological: - Blanke et al’s study supported this explanation. -Persinger (2001) carried out a research and found that TPJ in the brain is implicated in the construction of the sense of body in space. -Ehrsson’s research provided support for a link between sensory disturbance and OOBEs. However, he tested the reality of the illusion by threatening the illusory body and found that participants displayed a physiological fear response. So the possible ethical issue is protection from psychological harm.

Explanations 3 Psychological: Blackmore suggested “Models of reality” as an explanation. She suggested that we feel as though we exist behind our eyes looking out at the world because we see reality using our senses. This is called “sensory model of reality”. There are also other models of reality and the brain cannot separate the different “models of reality” and will choose the one which is most stable to be reality, which is “sensory model of reality”.

Explanations Reductionism (Parnia, 2009): The mind is the product of complex chemical processes Mind-body problem: The mind is a separate entity

Research studies Evaluation It is difficult to study natural OOBEs because they happen without predictability OOBEs would cease as soon as the participant reported it even if the researcher is present Therefore, most research is conducted on artificially-induced OOBEs in lab settings. Some researchers (Holden et al, 2006) do not regard these as equivalent to naturally-occurring OOBEs

Exam Question: (usually asked with near death experience in past papers) 2014: Discuss research into out of body experiences. (4 marks + 6 marks)

Mark Scheme: Question 15 Discuss research into out of body experiences. (4 marks + 6 marks) AO1 = 4 marks AO2/3 = 6 marks AO1 credit is awarded for research into OBEs. As research refers to theories/explanations or studies students can approach this question in two different ways. They can present explanations as AO1 and support from research studies as AO2. Alternatively, they can present research studies as AO1 with methodological evaluation as AO2. Responses will need to be read carefully to establish how students have tackled the question. Explanations of OBEs include: Neuroscience: Problems in the neural pathway from the pre frontal cortex to the temporo-parietal junction: Stimulation of the temporal lobe of the brain (Blanke) Cognitive: OBEs result from disruption of visual self-perception or a shift to a bird’s eye view (Blackmore 1987)

Mark Scheme: The sleep hypothesis (Palmer, 1978, McCreery 2006): OBEs occur during a hypnogogic state Belief in OBEs is associated with personality characteristics such as fantasy proneness. Research studies: Blanke et al (2005) produced OBEs artificially through stimulating the angular gyrus. This supports the claim of a biological underpinning to the OBE Easton et al (2009): identified difficulties in locating the self in space in an OBE sample Ehrsson: OBEs can be induced through disrupting sense of visual perception. Both of the above studies demonstrate scientific testing of OBEs in controlled conditions. These are far from the usual conditions in which OBEs are reported but have some advantages over case study evidence which provides little information about causes of OBE’s. Both involve relatively small samples.

Mark Scheme: A01 Mark Bounds: 4 marks Sound Knowledge and understanding are accurate and well detailed. Organization and structure of the answer are coherent. 3 marks Reasonable Knowledge and understanding are generally accurate and reasonably detailed. Organization and structure of the answer are reasonably coherent. 2 marks Basic Knowledge and understanding are basic/relatively superficial. Organization and structure of the answer are basic. 1 mark Rudimentary Knowledge and understanding are rudimentary and may be very brief, muddled and/or inaccurate. Lacks organization and structure. 0 marks No creditworthy material.

Mark Scheme: AO2/3 mark bands 6 marks Effective. Commentary demonstrates sound analysis, understanding and interpretation. The answer is well focused and shows coherent elaboration and/or a clear line or argument. Ideas are well structured and expressed clearly and fluently. Consistently effective use of psychological terminology. Appropriate use of grammar, punctuation and spelling. 5-4 marks Reasonable Commentary demonstrates reasonable analysis, understanding. The answer is generally focused and shows reasonable elaboration. Most ideas are appropriately structured and expressed clearly. Appropriate use of psychological terminology. Minor errors of grammar, punctuation and spelling occasionally compromise meaning. 3-2 marks Basic Commentary demonstrates basic, superficial understanding. The answer is sometimes focused and shows some evidence of elaboration. Expression of ideas lacks clarity. Limited use of psychological terminology. Errors of grammar, punctuation and spelling are intrusive. 1 mark Rudimentary Commentary is rudimentary demonstrating a very limited understanding. The answer is weak, muddled and incomplete. Material is not used effectively and may be mainly irrelevant. Deficiency in expression of ideas results in confusion and ambiguity. The answer lacks structure often merely a series of unconnected assertions. Errors of grammar, punctuation and spelling are frequent and intrusive. 0 marks No creditworthy material is presented.