Was one of the volunteers David Copperfield?
On Mar 23, 7:46 am, Pat <[email protected]> wrote:
> On 23 Mar, 07:10, archytas <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>
>
> > New Scientist has a special report on out of body and other
> > illusions. Under normal circumstances, your sense of self is firmly
> > anchored inside your body. Sometimes, though, something goes awry, the
> > connection between body and self breaks down and you have an out-of-
> > body experience. Such moments occur when brain function is disturbed,
> > such as after a stroke or epileptic seizure, or while on drugs (no
> > doubt we have our own drugged-up, epileptic stroke experimenters in
> > here). In 2007, however, two research teams independently reported
> > ways of inducing an out-of-body experience in the lab in normal
> > healthy people. The techniques differ slightly, but both involve
> > feeding volunteers video images of themselves from an unusual
> > perspective while applying tactile stimulation, somewhat like the
> > rubber hand illusion. Get volunteers to stand about 2 metres in front
> > of a video camera while wearing goggles displaying video images,
> > converted into a holographic-like 3D projection - the volunteers see a
> > version of their own backs. When they stoked the volunteers' backs,
> > many reported a weird feeling that they were somehow inside the
> > virtual body in front of them (Science, vol 317, p 1096).
>
> > The volunteers also experienced "proprioceptive drift" towards the
> > virtual body: they felt as if they were standing in the position of
> > their virtual self. When the researchers turned off the display, moved
> > their volunteers backwards and asked them to return to their original
> > position, many overshot towards where they felt their virtual body had
> > stood. A feeling of out-of-body levitation by repeating the
> > experiment with volunteers who were lying down (Consciousness and
> > Cognition, DOI: 10.1016/j.concog.2008.11.003) has not yet recreated
> > the entire out-of-body experience: It remains an 'as-if' feeling, but
> > they are trying to refine it to the full Flying Harrington.
>
> The trick, though, is to come back with information you couldn't
> have got otherwise. When they can do THAT, I'll take notice. Until
> then, it's Houdini stuff; entertaining but not particularly useful.
>
> > Ehrsson's team have done something similar, with seated volunteers
> > filmed from behind while a researcher stands to the side of them
> > stroking the volunteer's chest and a space just in front of the camera
> > (see illustration). The volunteers see their own backs, feel the
> > stroking but also see somebody stroking a position just behind them.
> > This strongly creates the illusion that they are outside their own
> > bodies, says Ehrsson (Science, vol 317, p 1048).
> > What's more, when Ehrsson tried swinging a hammer at the previously
> > stroked airspace, it elicited a strong stress response in the
> > volunteer.
>
> > I don't know how many realise this, but the relativity experiments
> > were substantially connected to far cruder versions of these recent
> > ones. Who knows what we might be able to 'see for real' if we
> > experienced more illusions?
--~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups
""Minds Eye"" group.
To post to this group, send email to [email protected]
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to
[email protected]
For more options, visit this group at
http://groups.google.com/group/Minds-Eye?hl=en
-~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
