Virtual reality out-of-body experiences

http://tech.monstersandcritics.com/news/article_1347212.php/Virtual_reality_used_to_create_out-of-body_experiences

Virtual reality used to create out-of-body experiences
By Stevie Smith
Aug 24, 2007

Somewhat creepy tech-related news today that follows the exploits of scientists at University College London who have successfully created the sensation that people are said to feel during an ‘out-of-body’ episode, reports the Guardian Unlimited.

An out-of-body experience could be described as when a completely conscious person is suddenly able to view their body as if it were a completely separate entity. Some claim the phenomenon to be indicative of a brush with death, and it has been reported that moments of out-of-body existence do occur during times of extreme physical trauma, drug abuse, epilepsy, or when brain function has been compromised following a cerebrovascular incident (a stroke).

Dr. Henrik Ehrsson, a neuroscientist that headed the experiments to recreate the out-of-body sensation, points out that while such experiences have indeed been reported as occurring across a variety of clinical situations, understanding of the out-of-body phenomenon is still unclear from the point of view of neuroscience.

"Out-of body-experiences have fascinated mankind for millennia," explained Dr. Ehrsson, who is now based at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, "their existence has raised fundamental questions about the relationship between human consciousness and the body, and has been much discussed in theology, philosophy and psychology."

However, using perfectly healthy volunteers, Dr. Ehrsson and his team claim to have utilised a system of cameras hooked up to a head-mounted VR display in order to help analyse exactly how the human brain processes exterior information to accurately determine body positioning – and thus recreated a form of out-of-body experience.

Normal circumstances see the brain processing sensory information passed to it from the body in order to formulate and build a sense of where the body is physically located in space. Through the application of jumbled sensory inputs during the experiment, Dr. Ehrsson wanted to test whether the human brain could be fooled into thinking the body was in a completely different location, adding weight to the notion that errors in the brain’s processing of sensory information causes out-of-body experiences.

Willing volunteers first donned virtual reality googles, which contained a video screen situated in each eye. These two screens then received separate images via camera units pointed at the volunteer from behind. The brain, upon processing and combining both of these images, subsequently caused the participant to firmly believe they were actually viewing a three-dimensional image of their own body.

Other physical experiments combining both the camera system and display goggles with the application of physical touch also caused participants to believe they were watching interaction with themselves from across the room. Dr. Ehrsson believes that such techniques, apart from aiding in the scientific understanding of out-of-body experiences, could have a significant bearing on the likes of medical and videogame technology.

Describing the technique as a form of projection or teleportation, Dr. Ehrsson offered that it could potentially see videogame interaction reaching a level far beyond current achievements while doctors could even perform remote surgery through the control of their virtual selves: "If we can project people into a virtual character, so they feel and respond as if they were really in a virtual version of themselves, just imagine the implications."