Editing Out-of-body experience (section)

====Awareness during Resuscitation Study====
{{update|date=February 2023}}
In 2001, [[Sam Parnia]]  and colleagues investigated out of body claims by placing figures on suspended boards facing the ceiling, not visible from the floor. Parnia wrote "anybody who claimed to have left their body and be near the ceiling during resuscitation attempts would be expected to identify those targets. If, however, such perceptions are psychological, then one would obviously not expect the targets to be identified."<ref>{{cite journal |author1=Parnia S |author2=Waller D. G |author3=Yeates R |author4=Fenwick P. | year = 2001 | title = A Qualitative and Quantitative Study of the Incidence, Features and Aetiology of Near-Death Experiences in Cardiac Arrest Survivors | journal = Resuscitation | volume = 48 | issue = 2| pages = 149–156 | doi=10.1016/s0300-9572(00)00328-2 | pmid=11426476}}</ref> The philosopher Keith Augustine, who examined Parnia's study, has written that all target identification experiments have produced negative results.<ref>Keith Augustine. (2008). [http://infidels.org/library/modern/keith_augustine/HNDEs.html#experiments "Hallucinatory Near-Death Experiences"]. [[Internet Infidels]]. Retrieved 2014-06-03.</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Augustine |first=Keith |title=Theism and Atheism: Opposing Arguments in Philosophy |chapter=Near-Death Experiences are Not Evidence for Either Theism or Atheism |chapter-url=http://emktg.cengage.com/marketing/sample_chapters/2018/9780028664460_sample_2.pdf#page=12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201031051311/http://emktg.cengage.com/marketing/sample_chapters/2018/9780028664460_sample_2.pdf |archive-date=2020-10-31 |url-status=live |publisher=Macmillan Reference USA |year=2019 |isbn=978-0-0286-6445-3 |pages=594–596 |access-date=2019-02-14}}</ref> Psychologist [[Chris French]] wrote regarding the study "unfortunately, and somewhat atypically, none of the survivors in this sample experienced an OBE."<ref>{{cite book|last=French|first=Chris |title=The Boundaries of Consciousness: Neurobiology and Neuropathology | author-link = Chris French | year = 2005 | chapter = Near-Death Experiences in Cardiac Arrest Survivors | series = Progress in Brain Research | volume = 150 | pages = 351–367 |doi= 10.1016/S0079-6123(05)50025-6 |pmid= 16186035|isbn= 9780444518514}}</ref>

In the autumn of 2008, 25 UK and US hospitals began participation in a study, coordinated by Sam Parnia and [[Southampton University]] known as the AWARE study (AWAreness during REsuscitation). Following on from the work of [[Pim van Lommel]] in the Netherlands, the study aims to examine [[near-death experiences]] in 1,500 [[cardiac arrest]] survivors and so determine whether people without a heartbeat or brain activity can have documentable out-of-body experiences.<ref name="Dreaper2008">Jane Dreaper. (2008). [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7621608.stm "Study into near-death experiences"]. BBC News. Retrieved 2014-06-03.</ref> As part of the study Parnia and colleagues have investigated out of body claims by using hidden targets placed on shelves that could only be seen from above.<ref name="Dreaper2008"/> Parnia has written "if no one sees the pictures, it shows these experiences are illusions or false memories".<ref name="Dreaper2008"/>

In 2014 Parnia issued a statement indicating that the first phase of the project has been completed and the results are undergoing peer review for publication in a medical journal.<ref>{{cite web|title=AWARE Study Update 2014|url= http://www.horizonresearch.org/main_page.php?cat_id=293|url-status=dead|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20140307190814/http://www.horizonresearch.org/main_page.php?cat_id=293|archive-date=2014-03-07|publisher=Horizon Research Foundation}}</ref> No subjects saw the images mounted out of sight according to Parnia's early report of the results of the study at an [[American Heart Association]] meeting in November 2013. Only two out of the 152 patients reported any visual experiences, and one of them described events that could be verified (as the other one's condition worsened before the detailed interview).<ref>{{cite news|last=Bowman|first=Lee|title=Scientists looking closer at what happens when body dies; edge closer to new understanding|url= http://www.newsnet5.com/news/science-tech/scientists-looking-closer-at-what-happens-when-body-dies|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20131223021330/http://www.newsnet5.com/news/science-tech/scientists-looking-closer-at-what-happens-when-body-dies |url-status= dead |archive-date= December 23, 2013 |publisher= [[WEWS-TV]] |agency= [[E. W. Scripps Company|Scripps Howard News Service]] |date= December 20, 2013 |access-date= 2014-05-24 }}</ref> The two NDEs occurred in an area where "no visual targets had been placed".<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Mays|first1=Robert George|last2=Mays|first2=Suzanne B.|date=2015-12-01|title=Explaining Near-Death Experiences: Physical or Non-Physical Causation?|journal=Journal of Near-Death Studies|volume=33|issue=3|pages=225–149|issn=0891-4494|url=https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/e9a9/9a56e264840b718342f7cfc8049bd8ef3ba0.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210308071546/https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/e9a9/9a56e264840b718342f7cfc8049bd8ef3ba0.pdf|url-status=dead|archive-date=2021-03-08|access-date=2020-04-26|doi=((10.17514/JNDS-2015-33-3-p125-149.)) |s2cid=55010580}}<!-- This DOI ends with a period! --></ref>

On October 6, 2014, the results of the study were published in the journal ''Resuscitation''. Less than 20% of cardiac arrest patients were able to be interviewed, as most of them died or were too sick even after successful resuscitation. Among those who reported a perception of awareness and completed further interviews, 46% experienced a broad range of mental recollections in relation to death that were not compatible with the commonly used term of NDEs. These included fearful and persecutory experiences. Only 9% had experiences compatible with NDEs and 2% exhibited full awareness compatible with OBEs with explicit recall of 'seeing' and 'hearing' events. One case was validated and timed using auditory stimuli during cardiac arrest.<ref>Parnia ''et al''. (2014). [http://www.resuscitationjournal.com/article/S0300-9572%2814%2900739-4/abstract "AWARE—AWAreness during REsuscitation—A prospective study"]. ''Resuscitation''.</ref> According to [[Caroline Watt]] "The one 'verifiable period of conscious awareness' that Parnia was able to report did not relate to this objective test. Rather, it was a patient giving a supposedly accurate report of events during his resuscitation. He didn't identify the pictures, he described the defibrillator machine noise. But that's not very impressive since many people know what goes on in an emergency room setting from seeing recreations on television."<ref>{{cite web|url= http://doubtfulnews.com/2014/10/one-not-too-impressive-study-does-not-prove-life-after-death/|title=One not too impressive study does not prove life after death|url-status=dead|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20141216073502/http://doubtfulnews.com/2014/10/one-not-too-impressive-study-does-not-prove-life-after-death/|archive-date=2014-12-16|website=Doubtful News|date=October 7, 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://web.randi.org/swift/no-this-study-is-not-evidence-for-life-after-death |title=No, this study is not evidence for "life after death" |last=Hill |first=Sharon |date=2014-10-08 |publisher=[[James Randi Educational Foundation]] |website=randi.org}}</ref> However, it was impossible for him to describe any hidden targets, as there were none in the room where his OBE occurred, and the rest of his description was also very precise, including the description and later correct identification of a doctor who took part in his resuscitation.