Metaphoric and Gestural Descriptions of Out-of-Body Experiences by Persian Subjects.

People describing out-of-body experiences (OBEs) use more metaphoric language and gestures when recounting normally-impossible events (e.g., floating or seeing from above) than when describing normally-possible events. Two chi-square tests revealed that impossible OBE events were more frequently described with metaphoric sentences than literal ones, and with metaphoric gestures rather than iconic gestures. The authors suggest that impossibility, emotional load, and extremeness—alongside abstractness and unfamiliarity—drive the active use of verbal and gestural metaphors for normally-impossible OBE events.

Study at a glance

Abstract

The phenomena of out-of-body experience (OBE) and near-death experience (NDE) have attracted increasing research interest. In this study, we used a set of videos to examine verbal and gestural descriptions of a group of people talking about their OBE experiences. Two chi-square tests were used to find out what type of sentences and what type of gestures were more frequently used to describe normally-possible and normally-impossible OBE events. The results showed that normally-impossible OBE events were described more frequently by metaphoric sentences than literal sentences. Verbal descriptions of normally-impossible events were accompanied more frequently by metaphoric gestures than iconic gestures. Based on these results, we suggest that impossibility, emotional load, and extremeness are key factors in the metaphorical description of normally-impossible OBE events. Therefore, in addition to abstractness and unfamiliarity, these three factors are behind the active use of verbal and gestural metaphors in describing normally-impossible OBE events.