Call it the ultimate trip, an out-of-body experience. Modern science appears to be on the verge of making it possible for anyone to accomplish.

The trick is the use of virtual reality goggles. When they’re worn, sensory signals going to the brain get mixed up,and induce out-of-body-like experiences.

This is exciting news to the science world because these phenomenon have previously been regarded as a figment of the imagination.

The non-profit science society American Association for the Advancement of Science, or AAAS for short, is spearheading the research into out-of-body experiences.

Until now, the feeling of disembodiment and seeing one’s own body from outside itself could only be accomplished in dangerous ways, such as through drug use, epileptic seizures and other types of brain disturbances.

The studies also help solve the age-old question of how we perceive our own bodies.

“I’m interested in why we feel that our selves are inside our bodies — why we have an ‘in-body experience,’ if you like. This has been discussed for centuries in philosophy, but it’s hard to tackle experimentally,” said Science Brevium author Henrik Ehrsson of University College London, in London, and the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm.

PHOTO CREDIT:
American Association for the Advancement of Science