The Experimental Induction of Out-of-Body Experiences

An illusion can make people feel as if they are located outside their own bodies, looking at themselves from that external viewpoint. This shows that the sense of being inside one's body is shaped by visual perspective together with matching sensory information from the body.

Study at a glance

Abstract

I report an illusion in which individuals experience that they are located outside their physical bodies and looking at their bodies from this perspective. This demonstrates that the experience of being localized within the physical body can be determined by the visual perspective in conjunction with correlated multisensory information from the body.