TITLE:
Functional and Neural Mechanisms of Out-of-Body Experiences: Importance of Retinogeniculo-Cortical Oscillations
AUTHORS:
Ravinder Jerath, Shannon M. Cearley, Vernon A. Barnes, Mike Jensen
KEYWORDS:
Out-of-Body Experiences, Hallucination, Reticular Thalamic Nuclei, Retinogeniculo-Cortical Oscillations, Unified Consciousness
JOURNAL NAME:
World Journal of Neuroscience,
Vol.6 No.4,
October
27,
2016
ABSTRACT: Current research on the
various forms of autoscopic phenomena addresses the clinical and neurological
correlates of out-of-body experiences, autoscopic hallucinations, and
heautoscopy. Yet most of this research is based on functional magnetic
resonance imaging results and focuses predominantly on abnormal cortical
activity. Previously we proposed that visual consciousness resulted from the dynamic
retinogeniculo-cortical oscillations, such that the photoreceptors dynamically
integrated with
visual and other vision-associated cortices, and was theorized to be mapped out by photoreceptor discs and rich retinal
networks which synchronized with
the retinotopic mapping and the associated cortex. The feedback from neural
input that is received from the thalamus and cortex via retinogeniculo-cortical
oscillations and sent to the retina is multifold higher than feed-forward input
to the cortex. This can effectively translate into out-of-body experiences
projected onto the screen formed by the retina as it is perceived via feedback
and feed-forward oscillations from the reticular thalamic nucleus, or “internal
searchlight”. This article explores the role of the reticular thalamic nucleus
and the retinogeniculo-cortical oscillations as pivotal internal components in
vision and various autoscopic phenomena.