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Ghost illusion created in the lab

Date: November 6, 2014

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Source: Ecole Polytechnique Fdrale de Lausanne

Summary: Patients suffering from neurological or psychiatric conditions have often
reported 'feeling a presence' watching over them. Now, researchers have
succeeded in recreating these ghostly illusions in the lab.

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July 30, 2013 Researchers used

virtual reality technology with a
specialized robotic system to test what happens
when the mind is tricked into identifying with
another ... full story

This image depicts a person experiencing the ghost illusion in the lab.
Credit: Alain Herzog/EPFL

[Click to enlarge image]

hosts exist only in the mind, and scientists know just where to find
them, an EPFL study suggests. Patients suffering from neurological
or psychiatric conditions have often reported feeling a strange
"presence." Now, EPFL researchers in Switzerland have succeeded in
recreating this so-called ghost illusion in the laboratory.
On June 29, 1970, mountaineer Reinhold Messner had
an unusual experience. Recounting his descent down
the virgin summit of Nanga Parbat with his brother,
freezing, exhausted, and oxygen-starved in the vast
barren landscape, he recalls, "Suddenly there was a
third climber with us... a little to my right, a few steps
behind me, just outside my field of vision."

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reported countless times by mountaineers, explorers,
Psychoactive drug
and survivors, as well as by people who have been
widowed, but also by patients suffering from
neurological or psychiatric disorders. They commonly
describe a presence that is felt but unseen, akin to a guardian angel or a demon.
Inexplicable, illusory, and persistent.

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Olaf Blanke's research team at EPFL has now unveiled this ghost. The team was able
to recreate the illusion of a similar presence in the laboratory and provide a simple
explanation. They showed that the "feeling of a presence" actually results from an
alteration of sensorimotor brain signals, which are involved in generating selfawareness by integrating information from our movements and our body's position in
space.
In their experiment, Blanke's team interfered with the sensorimotor input of participants
in such a way that their brains no longer identified such signals as belonging to their
own body, but instead interpreted them as those of someone else. The work is
published in Current Biology.

Dec. 5, 2010 Scientists have

shown for the first time that exactly
how we see our environment
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Generating a "Ghost"
The researchers first analyzed the brains of 12 patients with neurological disorders -mostly epilepsy -- who have experienced this kind of "apparition." MRI analysis of the
patients's brains revealed interference with three cortical regions: the insular cortex,
parietal-frontal cortex, and the temporo-parietal cortex. These three areas are involved
in self-awareness, movement, and the sense of position in space (proprioception).
Together, they contribute to multisensory signal processing, which is important for the
perception of one's own body.
The scientists then carried out a "dissonance" experiment in which blindfolded
participants performed movements with their hand in front of their body. Behind them, a
robotic device reproduced their movements, touching them on the back in real time.
The result was a kind of spatial discrepancy, but because of the synchronized
movement of the robot, the participant's brain was able to adapt and correct for it.
Next, the neuroscientists introduced a temporal delay between the participant's
movement and the robot's touch. Under these asynchronous conditions, distorting
temporal and spatial perception, the researchers were able to recreate the ghost
illusion.
An "Unbearable" Experience
The participants were unaware of the experiment's purpose. After about three minutes
of the delayed touching, the researchers asked them what they felt. Instinctively,
several subjects reported a strong "feeling of a presence," even counting up to four
"ghosts" where none existed. "For some, the feeling was even so strong that they
asked to stop the experiment," said Giulio Rognini, who led the study.
"Our experiment induced the sensation of a foreign presence in the laboratory for the
first time. It shows that it can arise under normal conditions, simply through conflicting
sensory-motor signals," explained Blanke. "The robotic system mimics the sensations
of some patients with mental disorders or of healthy individuals under extreme
circumstances. This confirms that it is caused by an altered perception of their own
bodies in the brain."
A Deeper Understanding of Schizophrenia

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In addition to explaining a phenomenon that is common to many cultures, the aim of

this research is to better understand some of the symptoms of patients suffering from
schizophrenia. Such patients often suffer from hallucinations or delusions associated
with the presence of an alien entity whose voice they may hear or whose actions they
may feel. Many scientists attribute these perceptions to a malfunction of brain circuits
that integrate sensory information in relation to our body's movements.
"Our brain possesses several representations of our body in space," added Giulio
Rognini. "Under normal conditions, it is able to assemble a unified self-perception of
the self from these representations. But when the system malfunctions because of
disease -- or, in this case, a robot -- this can sometimes create a second
representation of one's own body, which is no longer perceived as 'me' but as someone
else, a 'presence'."
It is unlikely that these findings will stop anyone from believing in ghosts. However, for
scientists, it's still more evidence that they only exist in our minds.
Watch the video: http://youtu.be/GnusbO8QjbE

The above story is based on materials provided by Ecole Polytechnique Fdrale

de Lausanne. The original article was written by Anne-Muriel Brouet. Note: Materials
may be edited for content and length.
Journal Reference:
1. Olaf Blanke, Polona Pozeg, Masayuki Hara, Lukas Heydrich, Andrea Serino, Akio
Yamamoto, Toshiro Higuchi, Roy Salomon, Margitta Seeck, Theodor Landis,
Shahar Arzy, Bruno Herbelin, Hannes Bleuler, Giulio Rognini. Neurological and
Robot-Controlled Induction of an Apparition. Current Biology, 2014; DOI:
10.1016/j.cub.2014.09.049

Chicago

Ecole Polytechnique Fdrale de Lausanne. "Ghost illusion created in the lab."

ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 6 November 2014.
<www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/11/141106131849.htm>.

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