MBI_8 Dualistic Experiences

autoscopic phenomena (AP)

experience in which an individual percieves the surronding environment from a different perspective or percieves their body from a position outside of their own body

subtypes of autoscopic phenomena

out of body experience (OBE)

autoscopic hallucination (AH)

heautoscopy (HAS)

out of body experience

person experiences leaving their physical body and seeing it from an outside perspective, from ceiling looking down at body in bed

autoscopic hallucination (AH)

person experiences seing a double of themselves in extrapersonal space without the experience of leaving their body

Individual perceives world from usual visuo-spatial perspective

Ex: Subject suddenly notices a seated figure on his left. “It wasn’t hard to realize that it was I myself who was sitting there.”

heautoscopy (HAS)

person experiences seeing double of themselves, but it is difficult for them to decide whether the self is localized within the physical body or in autoscopic body

Individual may report seeing in an alternating or simultaneous fashion from different visuo-spatial perspectives

Ex: Subject feels as if she were standing at the foot of her bed and looking down at herself, yet she also has the impression of “seeing” from the visuo-spatial perspective of her physical body, which looks at the wall immediately in front of her

doppelganger effect

(one of the forms of HAS can take)

person perceives and interacts with a duplicate of their own body

The person hallucinating finds their identity and location shifting from the physical body to the illusory body, sometimes moving back and forth in rapid succession

“feeling of a presence” - ‘hallucination du compagnon’

One has convincing feeling that there is another person close by without actually seeing that person

causes of OBEs

dreaming (lucid dream state) - most cases reported being on the verge of sleep

near death experiences - cases report having an OBE at a time of severe physical trauma such as near drownings or major surgery

traumatic brain injuries

psychedelic drugs

electrical stimulation of the brain

cause of heautoscopy/doppelganger effect

symptom of schizophrenia or epilepsy

study of patients with brain damage who experienced HAS showed damage to left posterior insula, important in body awareness

induction of OBE’s

chemical induction - psilocybin, ketamine, DMT, etc.

mental induction - falling asleep without losing awareness

mechanical induction - electrical stimulation of the brain, particularly the tempoparietal junction (region of the brain important in perspective taking) and vestibular cortex (important in creating sense of balance and spatial orientation)

sensory deprivation - aims to induce intense disorientation by removal of space and time references

astral projection

moving from waking state to dream state without loss of consciousness

differences between lucid dreaming and astral projection

• lucid dreaming involves becoming aware that you are dreaming while dreaming, while astral projection is moving from a waking state to dream state without loss of consciousness

• astral projection may take place on plans that are closer to material realm than those of lucid dreaming

lucid dream induction techniques

practice dream recall / dream diary

learn to recognize most frequent dream signs, e.g. purple cat

get ample sleep

napping

trying different sleeping positions

practice reality testing throughout the day

strengthen desire

neurological correlates of lucid dreams

parts of the prefrontal and parietal regions involved in lucid dreaming

compared to non-lucid REM sleep, lucid REM sleep is associated with increased activity in:

• PFC (metacognition)

• parietal cortex (episodic memory)

• occipital and inferior temporal regions (visual processing)