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Scientists have figured out how the soul comes out of its own physical body
Last reviewed: 30.06.2025
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Scientists have discovered why some people experience hallucinations associated with leaving their physical shell. A special part of the brain makes them “lose their temper.”
Hallucinations and dreams in which people experience leaving their physical body are usually associated with mental disorders. This phenomenon has been little studied, but it is known that such experiences can be caused by mental trauma, dehydration, and taking psychedelics. Medical practice shows that these hallucinations occur at different times in life and in completely healthy people.
British scientists decided to understand what is going on in the heads of healthy people who are familiar with such experiences. According to psychologists, approximately one in ten healthy people has experienced what psychologists call an “out-of-body experience” (OBE). However, scientists have found that among students this figure fluctuates between 20 and 25%.
“It seems that we all have different levels of instability and volatility in our temporal lobes, and some people are more susceptible to these experiences,” said study author Jason Braithwaite, from the University of Birmingham. The temporal lobe is part of the cerebral cortex, which is responsible for higher nervous activity. It is responsible for interpreting signals from the senses and other information from the body and relating it to a “body map”. This allows us to always feel like we are inside our physical shell. If this interpretation is disrupted, a person may feel as if they have temporarily left their body.
In their study, the researchers surveyed 63 students, 17 of whom reported having traveled “out of themselves.” The students’ answers to specific questions showed that those who had an OBE had unstable temporal lobes. One of these questions was: “Have you ever felt the presence of someone else, even if there were no signs of their presence?” Or: “Have you ever felt that your body, or part of it, was changing shape?” The students were also asked to identify different body parts shown on a monitor. Those who sometimes “lose their temper” showed worse results in this task.
According to scientists, the distortion of our perception within ourselves is associated either with a conflict between the brain and information coming from the body, or with disturbances in the temporal lobe. "Your sense of self, how you feel in space, does not happen automatically. Your brain must process this information constantly. It constantly takes this information, constantly determines your position in space, but sometimes this interpretation fails," the scientist explained. The scientists' work was published in the journal Cortex.
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