Max_B
Member
Interesting new paper where researchers attempt to test the idea that the right Temporo-parietal Junction may play a specific role in abnormal body perception (ABP) like out of body experience (OBE). They attempted to induce an OBE using repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) of the brains right Temporo-parietal Junction (rTPJ), vs a Control Site (CS) located 5cm away.
"Effects of Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation on Body Perception: No Evidence for Specificity of the Right Temporo-Parietal Junction"
https://www.researchgate.net/public...ficity_of_the_Right_Temporo-Parietal_Junction
[Updated Link to full free version of the paper above]
Even though they failed to induce a full-blown OBE, I applaud the researchers for being so open minded and actually providing a realtime hidden target just incase they had been successful...
Highlights for me...
and...
Whether it's with drugs, cardiac arrest or event related desynchronisation etc, it seems to me that a common cause of localised OBE-type phenomena continues to be a reduction in power output of the brains endogenous EM field.
"Effects of Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation on Body Perception: No Evidence for Specificity of the Right Temporo-Parietal Junction"
https://www.researchgate.net/public...ficity_of_the_Right_Temporo-Parietal_Junction
[Updated Link to full free version of the paper above]
Even though they failed to induce a full-blown OBE, I applaud the researchers for being so open minded and actually providing a realtime hidden target just incase they had been successful...
"...The aim of the present study was therefore to investigate in a larger sample, whether repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) of the rTPJ in a healthy brain can induce ABP, and to explore neurophysiological correlates of ABP. We employed MRI-based neuronavigated TMS for exact localisation of the rTPJ. Following the design of previous research, a visual target was displayed out of sight of the participant. A laptop was placed above the participant with the screen turned to the ceiling. The screen displayed a series of 5-digit numbers that changed randomly every second. The participant was instructed that if he/she experienced an ABP and was able to see the target, he/she would have to recall it after the ABP. The participant’s electroencephalography (EEG) was monitored to allow the assessment of neurophysiological correlates of ABP...."
Highlights for me...
"...Thirteen participants (65 %) reported ABP when stimulated at the rTPJ and twelve (60 %) when stimulated atthe CS. Among the participants who reported ABP, none reported an OBE. Two participants had somatosensory tingling sensations in their arms or legs. Eight participants reported twitching sensations in their body parts (arms and/or legs). Most remarkably, three participants reported complete illusory movements of body parts. These participants did not see their body parts moving, but they felt illusory movements of body parts such as arm deflections and stretching legs..."
and...
"...Our neurophysiological data indicate that abnormal body perception (ABP) were related to a systematic (almost independently of the rTMS cortical site and rTMS frequency: in 3 out of 4 experimental conditions) decrease of the EEG power in all frequency bands at a common left anterior and left central cortical area according statistical results in 2 conditions (15 Hz rTMS at rTPJ and CS) and according to trends (Fig. 6) in a third condition (1 Hz rTMS at rTPJ). The EEG power decrease in all frequency bands could be interpreted as a specific type of cortical deactivation due for instance to EEG desynchronisation (Mun˜oz-Torres et al. 2011; Julkunen et al. 2008) or a reduced connectivity (Julkunen et al. 2008). At a neurofunctional level, ‘‘power decrease in all frequency bands is generally seen after arousal stimuli, during orienting reactions’’ (Gamma et al. 2000, p. 160) and EEG desynchronisation has been interpreted as reflecting the perception of an incongruence (Berlyne and McDonnell 1965). Thus, the power decrease in all frequencies could reflect an orientation mechanism to the presence of an incongruent body perception that we refer to as an ABP..."
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