So-called out-of-body experiences (OBEs) are quite common. According to experts, about 10% of people encounter it at least once in their life. The condition can be caused by a wide range of factors, from brain tumors to epilepsy. However, it is most often associated with near-death experiences.
Many cardiac arrest patients often report feeling as if the soul had left the body, and they could “watch everything from above”. For most people, these experiences are proof of life after death. But scientists argue that such an experience helps to uncover the mystery of how the brain works during such phenomena.
Neuroscientist Jane Aspell of the University of England Ruskin explained that such experiences are not evidence that the soul leaves the body at the time of injury. “Although they are incredibly real and seem very real to a person who has experienced clinical death,” she added.
However, the brain is a very “plastic” tool, and under the right conditions it can be easily confused, the specialist said. In fact, during these out-of-body experiences, when the soul allegedly hovers over the body, there is nothing more than a very vivid hallucination, writes the Daily Express.
If a person is asked to draw a picture of his bedroom from memory, he will most likely draw the room and the objects in it fairly accurately, provided that he has enough time to think about the task. Essentially, the same thing happens during ECP, but spontaneously and without warning. Therefore, hallucinations generated by the brain are usually imprecise and lacking in information.
Studies have been carried out in emergency departments where people who have experienced CAP were asked to describe their environment. Patients were not told about objects hidden high and out of reach of the eyes, and as a result, these objects did not appear in their descriptions. Thus, in fact, their soul never left the body and did not rise up, and the whole picture unfolded exclusively in the brain.
Scientists still do not know why this is happening, but it is clear that it is due to some disruption in the functioning of the brain. “We don't know the details of how the brain does this, but it certainly looks a lot like a hallucination. People have tried, but have not found any evidence that consciousness can survive or exist outside the body, "- said Aspell.