Evidence for elevated cortical hyperexcitability and its association with out-of-body experiences in the non-clinical population: New findings from a pattern-glare task

Predisposition to out-of-body experience (OBE) is associated with aberrations in multisensory integration: Psychophysiological support from a “rubber hand illusion” study.

“…Participants ranged in age from 18-65 years ( X = 22 years, SD = 8.83). Using an Out-of-Body Experience pre-screen questionnaire (see Braithwaite et al, 2013a;, 31 participants (17%) were classified as 'OBEers' (87% female, X age = 32 years, SD = 16.41, range 18-65 years), with a remaining 149 making up the control group (92% female, X age = 20 years, SD = 3.66, range 18 -49 years). At the time of recruitment, all participants were screened for any excessive fear / aversion / phobia to needles or blood.…”

“…The pre-screen contained 24-items that measured phenomenological aspects of OBEs, such as experiencing an external perspective, the frequency of such experiences, their vividness, whether the experiences were visual or not, the degree of connection felt by the observer to their physical body and the out-of-body perspective etc. (see 2013a;2013b; for similar versions of the screen and Appendix B). The pre-screen was designed primarily to ensure those who claimed to have had an OBE were categorizing their experience with accepted definitions of the experience which cannot be achieved by a basic single question 4 .…”

“…This question was used to delineate the OBE group but was not included in the numerical analysis for that group (the 'yes' scores were removed from the analysis for the OBE group so that they did not Eleven items from the original CAPS measure have been identified as being highly correlated with each other, reflecting a 'Temporal-Lobe Experience Factor', (items Q1, Q2, Q4, Q6, Q10, Q12, Q16, Q24, Q26, Q27 and Q32; Bell et al, 2006). Previous research has shown that those predisposed to OBEs score higher than controls on these specific items 2013a;. The scoring of these items is the same as that described above for the CAPS and both the presence and frequency of these experiences were measured.…”

“…Although such experiences can happen in association with psychopathology and neurological conditions (i.e., schizophrenia, epilepsy, migraine: Blackmore, 1986;Comfort, 1982;Critchley, 1950;Gabbard, Twemlow & Jones, 1982;Lippman, 1952;1953;Sacks, 1995;Siegel, 1977), they can also occur in the apparent complete absence of them (in non-clinical groups: Blackmore, 1982;Braithwaite & Dent, 2011;2014, Braithwaite, Mevorach, & Takahashi, 2015Easton, Blanke, & Mohr, 2009;Irwin, 1981;Murray & Fox, 2005;Twemlow, Gabbard & Jones, 1982). For non-clinical groups, hallucinatory OBEs have been associated with specific biases in exocentric perspective-taking, body-transformation processes and increased cortical hyperexcitability demonstrated via behavioural and brain-stimulation methods (Blackmore, 1987;Braithwaite, Broglia, Bagshaw, & Wilkins, 2013a;Braithwaite, et al, 2011a;2013b;2013c;Cook & Irwin, 1983). …”

The Cortical Hyperexcitability Index (CHi): a new measure for quantifying correlates of visually driven cortical hyperexcitability

“…Pattern-glare has been shown to be particularly prominent in those who experience migraine with aura (Friedman & De Ver Dye, 2009;Harle & Evans, 2004;Marcus & Soso, 1989), visual stress (Meares-Irlen syndrome: Evans, Busby, Jeanes, & Wilkins, 2002;Evans & Stevenson, 2008), photosensitive epilepsy and stroke (Beasley & Davies, 2012;Evans, 2005;Evans & Stevenson, 2008) and certain hallucinations in the non-clinical population (Braithwaite, Broglia, Bagshaw, & Wilkins, 2013a;Braithwaite, Broglia, Brincat, Stapley, Wilkins, et al, 2013b). It has also been implicated in cases of autism and anxiety / mood disorders and its severity can vary in sympathy with the presence of other co-morbid factors (see Ludlow, Wilkins, & Heaton, 2006;Nulty, Wilkins, & Williams, 1987;Wilkins, 1986).…”