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Shocking News: Ghosts created by scientists in 'disturbing' lab experiment

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beast786

Member
By Sarah Knapton, Science Editor

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/...-scientists-in-disturbing-lab-experiment.html

Scientists in Switzerland have shown that ghosts are probably just an illusion created by the mind when it momentarily loses track of the body’s location

Ghostly apparitions and hauntings have pervaded folklore and legend for thousands of years, but now scientists have shown that they are just a figment of the imagination.

Artificial ‘spectres’ were conjured up by an experiment which proved so disconcerting for participants that two begged for it to stop.

Scientists have long suspected that ghosts are an illusion created by the mind. Patients who suffer from neurological or psychiatric conditions often report ‘strange presences.’

And people experiencing extreme physical or emotional pain often claim to have seen ghostly outlines or felt that departed loved ones were back in the room with them.

Now, however, scientists in Switzerland have shown that ghosts are probably just an illusion created by the mind when it momentarily loses track of the body’s location because of illness, exertion or stress.

Volunteers took part in an experiment which mixed up their movements and brain signals.


They saw up to four phantoms positioned around them and believed that ghosts were touching their backs with invisible fingers.

Professor Olaf Blanke, from the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland, said: "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.

"This confirms that it is caused by an altered perception of their own bodies in the brain."

To manifest their ghosts, the scientists set up a robot device that allowed volunteers to control the movements of a jointed mechanical arm with their index fingers.

The movements were relayed to another robot arm behind them which touched their backs.

When both the finger-pushing and back-touching occurred at the same time, it created the illusion that the volunteers were caressing their own backs.

That felt weird enough to the blindfolded participants. But something a lot stranger happened when the back-touching was delayed and about 500 milliseconds out of sync with the finger movements.

Suddenly the volunteers felt as if they were being watched, and touched, by one or more ghostly presences.

At the same time, they had the disconcerting sensation of drifting backwards, towards the unseen hand.

When questioned, several reported a strong feeling of invisible people being close to them. On average, they counted two, with up to four being reported.

Two of the 12 healthy participants were so disturbed by the experience that they asked the scientists to halt the experiment.

Co-author Dr Giulio Rognini, also from the EPFL, said: "Our brain possesses several representations of our body in space.

“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'."

An experiment showing that ghosts can be created in the lab

A master-slave robotic system was used to allow participants to move their arms forward and receive tactile feedback on the back.

The experiment suggests that "feelings of presence" (FOPs), often interpreted as spirits, angels or demons, are really all in the mind, say the researchers.

Such experiences are frequently reported by people in extreme physical or emotional situations, such as mountaineers and explorers, or those grieving for a lost loved one.

They are also associated with medical conditions that affect the brain, including epilepsy, stroke, migraine and cancer.

In their paper, the researchers describe the case of mountaineer, Reinhold Messner, who had an FOP experience while descending from the summit of the Himalayan peak Nanga Parbat in June, 1970.

Accompanied by his brother, he was freezing, exhausted and oxygen-starved. He recalled becoming aware of a third climber "descending with us, keeping a regular distance, a little to my right and a few steps away from me, just outside my field of vision".

Before conducting the experiment, the researchers carried out brain scans of 12 patients with neurological disorders who had encountered FOPs in the past.

They identified disturbances in three specific brain regions, the insular cortex, parietal-frontal cortex, and temporo-parietal cortex. All were involved in self-awareness, movement, and sense of position in space.

The research was published in the journal Current Biology.
 
brb-using-imagination-eccbc87e4b5ce2fe28308fd9f2a7baf3-2132.gif
 

Rapstah

Member
Jesus Christ, the human body is so fucking stupid. "The robot arm was half a second late... must've been a ghost!!!"
 

Grym

Member
so I don't understand. They were blindfolded. So they were "sensing" a presence or "feeling" a presence but nobody was actually seeing a presence?

While I don't believe in ghosts, I think of them generally as a 'visual phenomenon' so to be related there would have to be something related to sight with the experiment, right?
 
so I don't understand. They were blindfolded. So they were "sensing" a presence or "feeling" a presence but nobody was actually seeing a presence?

While I don't believe in ghosts, I think of them generally as a 'visual phenomenon' so to be related there would have to be something related to sight with the experiment, right?

They artificially tweaked their minds way of perceiving the environment around them. It invoked psychological feelings of presence and ghostly feelings.

Hence dumb people in stupid situations see and feel shit that isn't really there.
 

Grym

Member
They artificially tweaked their minds way of perceiving the environment around them. It invoked psychological feelings of presence and ghostly feelings.

Hence dumb people in stupid situations see and feel shit that isn't really there.

okay...thought so. just wanted to make sure I understood. Because honestly what I want is for them to create an experiment that results in the same thing except visually. I'd love to try that shit out and actually 'see' ghosts (without the use of some kind of psychotropic drugs).
 

Grakl

Member
To be hnoest, the porbbality of bieng spokoed by a rael gohst is so low it's czary. I don't eevn belevie in slekentos, olny loesrs bieleve in them.
 

besada

Banned
Jesus Christ, the human body is so fucking stupid. "The robot arm was half a second late... must've been a ghost!!!"

Human brains don't work very well. We filter everything we see/hear/taste/touch, and when we recall from memory we confabulate details. And it's not like we don't know this, but we -- as a society -- are unwilling or unable to internalize it.
 

Grym

Member
To be hnoest, the porbbality of bieng spokoed by a rael gohst is so low it's czary. I don't eevn belevie in slekentos, olny loesrs bieleve in them.

I'm a little unnerved that I understood those 2 sentences. must be ghosts?
 

Air

Banned
so I don't understand. They were blindfolded. So they were "sensing" a presence or "feeling" a presence but nobody was actually seeing a presence?

While I don't believe in ghosts, I think of them generally as a 'visual phenomenon' so to be related there would have to be something related to sight with the experiment, right?

That's actually a good point. This is the first I've heard of feelings of presence as a thing, and this experiment reminds me of the God helmet as well.
 

DECK'ARD

The Amiga Brotherhood
I'm a little unnerved that I understood those 2 sentences. must be ghosts?

It deson’t mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod aepapr, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer are in the rghit pcale. The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit pobelrm.
 

dabig2

Member
It deson’t mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod aepapr, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer are in the rghit pcale. The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit pobelrm.

Wrong. I'm pretty sure it's literature ghosts hovering about raping our minds.
 

Grym

Member
Terhe are no gsohts hree. I don't rlleay tihnk tehy eisxt eihetr.

It deson’t mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod aepapr, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer are in the rghit pcale. The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit pobelrm.

This thread must be part of an experiment because I think I'm experiencing the presence of Satan
 
As much as I love GB, it saddens me that Dan Ackroyd actually believes in this nonsense.

That's ridiculous. GB is clearly a passion project, if he didn't have that kind of love for the subject we probably wouldn't have gotten nearly the same kind of experience. Ackroyd can believe in the flying spaghetti monster for all I care, dude's a legend. He can be little kooky.
 
Human brains don't work very well. We filter everything we see/hear/taste/touch, and when we recall from memory we confabulate details. And it's not like we don't know this, but we -- as a society -- are unwilling or unable to internalize it.

They work really great for survival and procreation, rationality? Not so much

Thanks evolution.
 

Dr.Acula

Banned
They saw up to four phantoms positioned around them and believed that ghosts were touching their backs with invisible fingers.

Professor Olaf Blanke, from the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland, said: "Our experiment induced the sensation of a foreign presence in the laboratory for the first time.

They "saw" ghosts and "believed" their backs were being touched.

The movements were relayed to another robot arm behind them which touched their backs.

When both the finger-pushing and back-touching occurred at the same time, it created the illusion that the volunteers were caressing their own backs.

That felt weird enough to the blindfolded participants. But something a lot stranger happened when the back-touching was delayed and about 500 milliseconds out of sync with the finger movements.

They were "blindfolded" and had a mechanism physically contacting their backs.

So what is it? Are they seeing ghosts or are they blindfolded? Are they sensing touch, or being touched?

WTF is this?
 

noah111

Still Alive
Super misleading title as the experiments only pertain to the 'feeling' or sense of a presence rather than being able to explain actual visual phenomena (photos, multiple viewers, etc).

Still awesome to know how inept our brains can be.
 
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