Out-of-body experience study

• Tuesday, 28 October 2008
• Ben Sneath
• 0 Comments

Statistics show that 10-20% of the people who have been brought back to life by doctors during cardiac arrest have had strange visions and floating out-of-body experiences - from seeing bright lights to looking down from the ceiling at medical staff.

New studies
Now doctors have gained funding to set up studies and find out more about what people experience during this ‘flat line’ period between the heart stopping and the brain shutting down. They want to determine whether these experiences are an illusion or well-structured thought processes.
This study is called AWARE and will incorporate 25 hospitals in the UK and US. It will use a combination of sophisticated brain-monitoring techniques to study the brain, while also employing innovative methods to study the mind and clinical death.
One of the methods investigators have identified involves putting images strategically in hospital bays where they will only be visible by looking down from the ceiling. It is hoped that any floating consciousnesses will see these and tell the doctors when they are brought back to life. Spooky.