Scientists Spot Brain Center for 'Out-of-Body' Experience

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"It's fairly rare," said De Ridder. "It might be possible to trigger this experience -- and even likely -- in a normal brain, and mess up the normal integration of the functions, the senses. But we're not sure yet."

"It's fascinating," commented Paul Sanberg, a distinguished university professor and director of the Center of Excellence for Aging and Brain Repair with the University of South Florida's College of Medicine in Tampa.

"This gives a physiological mechanism for out-of-body experiences under different conditions," he said. "And, it points out that our sense of self isn't just our cognitive abilities and our emotions, but it's also our sense of time and space."

"So, I imagine if you can stimulate a part of the brain that has been found to control where we are in space and orientation and our sense of body, it could give a sense of being out of our body," he said. "It could give us a sense that we are somewhere else. Perhaps not a real out-of-body experience. But a perceptual experience, nonetheless."

More information

For more on the brain and sensory perception, visit the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.