A new study revealed that brain scans can determine the processes involved when an out-of-body illusion is made. The researchers simulated teleportation and found that distinct areas in the brain were activated while the bodily self perceived other locations as its own.

The research conducted in Sweden's Karolinska Institutet implicated that thinking about being in someone else’s body or locating the self somewhere else is basic. But in reality, numerous complex activities and continuous processing of information are imperative in order to maintain correct perception with regards to the extrinsic location.

Previous studies in rats found that a group of GPS-like “place cells” that gesture the self’s location in the room can be found in the brain. Although this discovery earned the 2014 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, it was not confirmed that these specific brain regions are involved in the perception that an individual’s bodily self is located somewhere else. In fact, no other clear mechanisms were identified in the entire affective knowledge.

The researchers conducted the current study published in the journal Current Biology by asking 15 healthy participants to wear head-mounted devices while having themselves and the brain scanner in view from another location within the room. They were then situated in a brain scanner for testing.

In the setup, the participants are able to see another person’s body in front of them and their own bodily self in the background. The researchers then elicited identical touch stimulations to the participant’s body and the stranger’s body that the participant were able to fully view. "In a matter of seconds, the brain merges the sensation of touch and visual input from the new perspective, resulting in the illusion of owning the stranger's body and being located in that body's position in the room, outside the participant's physical body," said lead author Arvid Guterstam.

The highlight of the research was the perceptual teleportation of the participants in other parts of the room through the utilisation of the out-of-body illusion. The authors then studied the brain activity of the participants through pattern identification approaches, which also showcased that perceived self-location can be interpreted from activity patterns in the distinct location of the temporal and parietal lobes. In addition, the authors said that they were able to present a systematic link between the data in these patterns and the recognised clarity of the out-of-body illusion.

"The sense of being a body located somewhere in space is essential for our interactions with the outside world and constitutes a fundamental aspect of human self-consciousness," said Guterstam. "Our results are important because they represent the first characterisation of the brain areas that are involved in shaping the perceptual experience of the bodily self in space."

One of the most distinct brain areas confirmed to have involvement in the study was the hippocampus, which was the same area where the “place cells” where located. This result is compelling as the area also showed valuable association with the conscious out-of-body experience, on top of its previously established contribution to navigation and memory encrypting, closed Henrik Ehrsson, principal researcher and professor at the Department of Neuroscience.

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