‘Out of Body’ Experience Tied to Misfiring Brain

Their stories are the stuff of creepy movies and daytime TV: Hospital patients resuscitated on the operating table speak of being drawn toward a brilliant light, or looking down on their own bodies and the doctors working feverishly to save their lives.

What induces these brief, haunting images? A new study suggests these “out of body” and “near death” experiences may be influenced by a portion of the brain misfiring under stress.

A paper, published in Thursday’s issue of the journal Nature, describes one patient’s visions while being evaluated for epilepsy.

Researchers point to a processing center in the brain known as the angular gyrus, which is thought to play a key role in the way the brain analyzes sensory data to give us a perception of our own bodies. When it misfires, they speculate, the result can be visions of floating outside of ourselves.