Out-of-body experiences (OBEs) and vestibular-motor sensations during sleep paralysis share a distinct factor, with research on direct vestibular cortex stimulation producing nearly identical bodily-self hallucinations. Two online surveys of sleep paralysis experiences assessed causal relationships among vestibular-motor experiences and OBEs. Results support the hypothesis that OBEs arise from a breakdown in normal bodily-self sensation binding, with out-of-body feelings resulting from anomalous vestibular-motor experiences and preceding a specific form of autoscopic experience called out-of-body autoscopy. Vestibular and motor experiences independently contribute to OBE variance. The findings offer naturalistic explanations for phenomena superficially consistent with dualistic and supernatural intuitions.
Out-of-body experiences (OBEs) are linked to specific brain regions, but little is known about the neurochemical systems involved. Ketamine, a drug that produces dissociative effects, offers a way to study this. An online survey of 192 people found that both how often someone had used ketamine in their lifetime and whether they had OBEs while on ketamine were more strongly tied to how often they had OBEs and related experiences than other drugs were. The apparent effects of other drugs could mostly be explained by the fact that people who used them also tended to use ketamine. These findings suggest NMDA receptors play a role in OBEs.