Charles T. Tart

(1969, Proceedings of the Parapsychological Association.)

Article

In a previous publication (Int. J. Parapsychol., 9, 1967, 251- 258), a psychophysiological study of a male subject (Robert Monroe) ,who had frequent, self-induced, out-of-the-body experiences (OBEs) was reported. The two brief OBEs he was able to produce in the laboratory occurred during an EEG state that resembled Stage 1 dreaming, but this identification was somewhat ambiguous because of exceptionally high variability in the subject's EEG patterns. The subject was unable to report on an ESP target used in that study.

In the present study, the same subject was studied again in a more comfortable laboratory setting. In the course of a two-hour session, he reported two brief OBEs, and reported awakening within a few seconds after each, allowing correlation of physiological recordings with the OBE. EEG, eye movements, and peripheral blood flow (plethysmograph) were recorded, and the subject was monitored via closed circuit TV for the first OBE, but not for the second.

The subject was asked to try to produce an OBE, to travel into the equipment room where the experimenter was, and to read a five- digit target number in the equipment room. In his first experience, he reported finding himself in the hall connecting the rooms for a period of eight to ten seconds at most, but then being forced to return to his body because of breathing difficulties. In his second OBE, he reported trying to follow the EEG cable through the wall to the equipment room but, to his amazement, found himself outside the building and facing another building wall, still following a cable. He later recognized a courtyard on the inside of the building, 180 degrees opposite the equipment room, as the place he had experienced himself at. Although he had no memory of ever having seen this courtyard, it is possible that he could have gotten a look at it while in the experimenter's office earlier in the day. There was no cable in the courtyard.

The EEG prior to the first experience may be roughly classified as a borderline or hypnagogic state, a Stage 1 pattern containing bits of slowed alpha rhythm (indicative of drowsiness) and theta activity (a normal sleeping pattern). This pattern persisted through the first OBE, but was accompanied by a sudden fall of systolic blood pressure lasting seven seconds, this being roughly equivalent to the estimated length of the OBE. There was eye movement activity of an ambiguous nature during this period. The second OBE was reported after a period of EEG shifting between Stage 1 and Stage 2 sleep. Its exact duration is unknown, but appears to have been accompanied by a similar Stage 1 pattern, and only two instances of isolated eye movement activity near the end. No clear-cut cardiac (plethysmograph) changes were seen. The subject reported having used a different technique for producing the OBE this time.

These findings generally parallel those of the earlier published study: the subject's OBEs seem to occur in conjunction with a prolonged, deliberately produced hypnagogic state (Stage 1 EEG). Such prolonged states are not normally seen in the laboratory. The preponderance of theta rhythms and the occasional slowed alpha show an intriguing parallel with EEG states reported for advanced Zen masters during meditation. Modern EEG feedback techniques have shown that subjects can learn to produce increased alpha rhythm, and to slow the frequency of their alpha rhythm. Studies now being conducted in my laboratory will determine the feasibility of training subjects to produce an abundance of theta rhythm. If this is successful, they will then be taught psychological techniques believed to increase the likelihood of OBEs, and to superimpose these techniques on a high theta state, to see if this offers a key to the laboratory production of OBEs in ordinary subjects. The major achievement of the present experiment has been to demonstrate that OBEs can occur in a laboratory setting, and are thus amenable to scientific investigation.

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