Voluntary Out-of-Body Experience: An fMRI Study

A participant who can voluntarily produce sensations of her body moving outside its physical boundaries, while knowing her body is still, showed distinct brain activity patterns during these extra-corporeal experiences (ECEs) compared to motor imagery. Brain scans revealed left-sided activations in the supplementary motor area, supramarginal gyrus, posterior superior temporal gyrus (overlapping the temporoparietal junction linked to out-of-body experiences), and cerebellum, consistent with the impression of movement. Additional activity in the left middle and superior orbital frontal gyri, regions tied to action monitoring, suggests this ECE is an unusual form of kinesthetic imagery.

Study at a glance

Abstract

The present single-case study examined functional brain imaging patterns in a participant that reported being able, at will, to produce somatosensory sensations that are experienced as her body moving outside the boundaries of her physical body all the while remaining aware of her unmoving physical body. We found that the brain functional changes associated with the reported extra-corporeal experience (ECE) were different than those observed in motor imagery. Activations were mainly left-sided and involved the left supplementary motor area and supramarginal and posterior superior temporal gyri, the last two overlapping with the temporal parietal junction that has been associated with out-of-body experiences. The cerebellum also showed activation that is consistent with the participant's report of the impression of movement during the ECE. There was also left middle and superior orbital frontal gyri activity, regions often associated with action monitoring. The results suggest that the ECE reported here represents an unusual type of kinesthetic imagery.