Recent Research on Near-Death Experiences and Out-of-Body Experiences

Near-death experiences are only one of an interrelated set of phenomena suggesting life after death and the existence of a human soul with uncharted powers and limitations. The diagram below sketches the wider picture that near-death experiences are part of. 

A paper describes how voluminous is the evidence for near-death experiences (NDE)  and out-of-body experiences:

"NDEs are not rare phenomena; survey studies indicate that the incidence may be around 4% of the general population (Gallup & Proctor, 1982; Knoblauch, Schmied, & Schnettler, 2001). Researchers have collected tens of thousands of cases. Three important case archives have been established: one at the Religious Experience Research Centre, based in the University of Wales Trinity Saint David; one at the Division of Personality Studies of the University of Virginia; and one in the Near-Death Research Foundation. These archives hold approximately 4,000 case reports. By 2005, more than 65 research studies involving nearly 3,500 NDErs had been published (Holden, Greyson, & James, 2009, p. 7). 

Mainstream neuropsychiatry appears to be stumped in terms of explaining NDEs (Greyson, Kelly, & Kelly, 2009; van Lommel, 2010, pp. 113–134), opening up the possibility that important discoveries may result from deeper investigation of NDEs. Of particular importance in this regard are cases in which people report having conscious experiences under conditions of cardiac arrest. Researchers have found that 10–20% of the people who survive cardiac arrest report such experiences (Greyson, 2003; Parnia, Waller, Yeates, & Fenwick, 2001; Schwaninger, Eisenberg, Schechtman, & Weiss, 2002; van Lommel, van Wees, Meyers, & Elfferich, 2001)."

Below are some fairly recent papers on this topic:

• The 2023 study "Incidence of near-death experiences in patients surviving a prolonged critical illness and their long-term impact: a prospective observational study" found that 19 out of 126 survivors of Intensive Care Unit hospitalization (15%) had a near-death experience. There was only a very low association between such experiences and positive responses on a Dissociative Experiences Scale questionnaire, with an odds ratio of only 1.13. The low association seems to argue against hallucinatory explanations for near-death experiences. The paper here ("Measuring dissociation: Comparison
  of alternative forms of the dissociative
  experiences scale") gives us at its end the questions used for this Dissociative Experiences Scale, a questionnaire that is claimed to be a way of detecting a psychiatric syndrome called "dissociation."  One of the questions asks about out-of-body experiences. The question is: "Some people sometimes have the experience of feeling as though they are standing next to themselves or watching themselves do something and they actually see themselves as if they were looking at another person." People doing the survey are asked to rate how often this happens to them. Anyone having an out-of-experience would answer "Once" or "Sometimes" to such a question, causing them to get a non-zero score on such a scale. But this does nothing whatsoever to show any pathology of such people. It merely shows that people who have out-of-body experiences report out-of-body experiences. 
• A 2024 study "Near-Death Experiences, Post-Traumatic Stress, and Supernormal Abilities in a Latin American Sample" found that "most of our 128 participants reported significant changes regarding beliefs and attitudes toward themselves and others as well as an increase in psychic or supernormal abilities."
• The 2024 study "Near-death experiences after cardiac arrest: a scoping review" examined other previously published studies. It found that "near-death experiences may occur in as frequent as over one-third of patients with cardiac arrest." A table from the study is shown below:

The study "Why Near-Death Experiences (NDEs) Matter to Psychology: An Exploration of Aotearoa New Zealand Psychologists’ Knowledge of NDEs and Implications for Professional Practice"  tells us that psychologists tend to lack knowledge about near-death experiences. We read this:

"Walker and Russell (1989) surveyed 117 registered U.S. psychologists in Illinois... Many were familiar with the term ‘near-death experience,’ but few had knowledge about NDEs."

In the study 45 psychologists were given a fictional narrative that sounded like a typical near-death experience, including a heart attack followed by an out-of-body experience that included the participant viewing his body from outside it, and a claim by the participant that "universal truths" were revealed to him, and a claim by the participant that he had an encounter with God or maybe something like God. Only 11% of the psychologists identified the account as a near-death experience, with the majority of psychologists guessing it was a panic attack, even though the description made no mention of fear or panic. 

The result should come as no surprise. Nowadays you can get a PhD in neuroscience and psychology without ever having been exposed to the vast evidence for paranormal phenomena. Such evidence is senselessly censored from most of the textbooks of neuroscience and psychology. 

Here is a quote from one recent study of near-death experiences:

"In my review of 617 near-death experiences from NDERF, a life review occurred in 88 NDEs (14%). None of the life reviews in these NDEs appeared to have any unrealistic content as determined by my review or based on comments by the NDErs about their own life reviews. Life reviews may include long forgotten details of their earlier life that the NDErs later confirm really happened. If NDEs were unreal experiences, it would be expected that there would be significant error in life reviews and possibly hallucinatory features. "

The same study says:

" A study by Dr. Emily Kelly was a comparison of 74 NDEs with descriptions of encountering deceased individuals with 200 NDEs that did not describe encounters with the deceased. ²³ This study found that when NDErs encountered beings known to them from their earthly lives in their NDEs, only 4% described meeting beings that were alive at the time of their experiences. I reviewed 84 NDEs from NDERF that described encounters with individual(s) that they knew in their earthly life. ²⁴ There were only three NDEs (4%) where the encountered beings were alive at the time of the NDEs, consistent with the findings of the Kelly study."

In the paper here, we have a long discussion of a Mr. M. who reports very frequent out-of-body experiences. The paper uses the term SAC to mean "state of accreted consciousness."

"Mr. M reports experiencing SAC at least once a day for the duration of a couple of minutes to many hours of the standard physical time flow as experienced by a healthy physical body....The vast majority of instances of Mr. M‟s SACs occur spontaneously or at will while Mr. M is fully conscious and active. Mr. M also experiences SACs while relaxed or resting. Mr. M reported his SACs occurred multiple times daily spontaneously or at will, while in a waking or active state such as standing, working at a computer, driving a car, etc., or when resting such as sitting or lying down. Mr. M reported he would be walking or performing regular daily activities at work, when suddenly he would spontaneously slip out-of-body and into the SAC. The SAC experiences would be extremely vivid, real, and a clear sense of separation between the Self and the physical body would accompany each SAC. The surroundings as described by Mr. M, when in SAC, would appear in brighter colors than what is considered normal under a regular state of consciousness. 'Under SAC I perceive colors that are not visible when in the physical body.' ...What triggers Mr. M‟s floating above his body while experiencing SAC in the waking/active state, given the fact that he represents the healthy population and his sensations of being clearly separated from his physical body are not caused by drugs, alcohol, hypnosis, trance, or linked to any pathological condition, is unknown."

The study "Differences and Commonalities Among Various Types of Perceived Out-of-Body Experiences (OBEs) (Phase II)" analyzed 252 reports of out-of-body experiences, received by those who filled out questionnaires after responding to advertising asking for responses from people who had out-of-body experiences. Some interesting findings of the study are below:

• Page 57: "At least 90 (35.7%) of the 252 perceived OBEs have included a report of having had an actual form or nonphysical body of some sort, usually similar in shape to the physical body (but not always). Other studies found that experients reported having a shape similar to their physical body (or some other type of form included in the results of two of these studies) with a range from 49% to 77% (Alvarado & Zingrone, 1999; Greyson & Stevenson, 1980; Twemlow et al., 1982). A total of 70 (27.8%) of the 252 perceived OBEs in this research so far included a report of lacking any type of form."  One of the participants claimed the ability to change his form at will during an out-of-body experience. 
• Page 24: "Some of the participants reported they were able to see a much wider area than before. This even included a visual perception spanning up to 360° in some cases. Although there was a question about the clarity of sight asked during both phases, the question did not mention anything about the field of their vision, so their comments about a broader form of sight were not directly solicited and their descriptions contain self-chosen terms (e.g., 360°, etc.)." There then follows several quotes from survey respondents talking about 360 degree vision of "fish-eye lens" vision, and two respondents talking about a binocular or zoom ability. 

The study "Incidence of near-death experiences in patients surviving a prolonged critical illness and their long-term impact: a prospective observational study" found a 15% incidence of near-death experiences in ICU (intensive care unit) survivors. 

For a very in-depth discussion of a recent paper purporting to present a model of near-death experiences (the NEPTUNE model of Charlotte Martial and others), see my long post "Physically Unrealistic NEPTUNE 'Model' of Near-Death Experiences Is a Misleading Mishmash." Some of my complaints were similar to those in a letter published in Nature Reviews Neurology a few days before my post was published, a letter entitled "Limitations of neurocentric models for near-death experiences." The letter is behind a paywall, but without paying I can at least read that it says this about Martial's NEPTUNE "model" of near-death experiences:

"Their model, though ambitious, omits key phenomenological features that are central to the core NDE experience [near-death experiences] and overextends certain neurochemical correlates into causal explanations. In establishing their neurocentric model, Martial et al. attempt to reframe many defining features of NDEs. NDEs characteristically involve a distinct constellation of features that sets them apart from dreams, fantasies, hallucinations or epileptic phenomena. These features include veridical out-of-body observations (often corroborated by medical personnel); transitions to ‘otherworldly realms’; panoramic life reviews (including re-experiencing past events from multiple vantage points); and encounters with deceased (but not living) relatives or ‘beings of light’. Many experiencers also undergo lifelong transformative changes in personal values and a marked loss of fear of death. Such features appear with remarkable consistency across cultures and times, and merely equating them with phenomena on the spectra of hallucinations or stress-induced fantasies misses precisely what distinguishes NDEs in terms of their specificity, coherence and intensity."

The paper "Explanation of near-death experiences: a systematic analysis of case reports and qualitative research" has a title that sounds like one of those affairs in which silly or skimpy speculations are suggested as explanations of reports beyond explanation.  But the paper is no such affair. The paper has the chart below in which "supernatural experiences" (in pink) is listed as the most common type.

According to the chart, the two most common aspects of near-death experiences are "out-of-body experiences" (the highest pink bar in the chart above) and "heightened senses." 

That the second largest bar in such a chart is "heightened senses" should come as no surprise to any very thorough student of out-of-body experiences and near-death experiences. Below are some accounts in the the literature of heightened senses during out-of-body experiences. 

(1) On page 70 of a book an author quotes Eugenie Garcia as having an out-of-body experience, apparently while being hypnotized:

"  I cast my eyes on myself: 'Look! I am luminous, transparent, light as a feather.'  Suddenly, I saw my body lying motionless in an armchair. Three or four people surrounded me, watching me attentively. What are they looking at me like that? Let's see. I come closer and look at myself too. doing like everyone else. I could clearly see the inside of my body, I could see the heart beating, the blood circulating, the networks.."

(2) On page 63 of a book, we read an account by Joseph Costa an out-of-body experience. Speaking as if he had X-ray vision, he says, "I saw my body perfectly recognizable by its particularities, its profile, my figure, but also bundles of veins and nerves vibrating with a luminous tingling."

(3) On page 62 of his book Lessons From the Light, Kenneth Ring quotes an account received by him in a letter, in which a woman described an out-of-body experience (when she says "three hundred degree" she apparently means "three-hundred-sixty degree"):

"I was hovering over a stretcher in one of the emergency rooms

at the hospital. I glanced down at the stretcher, knew the body

wrapped in blankets was mine, and really didn't care...I could see

the tiles on the ceiling and the tiles on the floor, simultaneously:

three hundred degree spherical vision. And not just spherical. Detailed! I could see every single hair and the follicle out of which it grew on the head of the nurse standing beside the stretcher."

(4) On page 37 of the same book, Ring quotes a male witness who claimed to see a womanly figure of light during his out-of-body experience. He recalls this when looking at his body:

"I could see the vascular system and the chambers emptying and filling with blood. I could see the vascular system and the life-sustaining materials working their way through the entire body. "

(5) On page 60 of the same book, a nearsighted woman recalls "the next I was aware of was floating on the ceiling" and that at this time "it was so vivid" and that "I could read the numbers on the machine behind my head." 

(6) On pages 254 to 255 of the 1895 book Brown Studies by George H. Hepworth, we have a description of an out-of-body experience. On page 255 he seems to describe enhanced vision during such an experience:

"I shall never be able to tell you how the stars looked that night. The heavens were an astonishing revelation to me. Not only did I see with perfectly clear vision, but there seemed to be a penetrating, a far-reaching quality to my sight which doubled the number of glistening lights above me, and the spectacle was so marvelous, so beautiful, that I stood entranced."

On page 256 the author compares his enhanced vision during his out-of-body experience to an account he heard of a very nearsighted boy who was given glasses and who could suddenly see the world clearly for the first time. 

(7) In the account below (from page 393 of the paper here) a person having an out-of-body experience reports having enhanced hearing (the account has both Feature #1 and Feature #4):

(8) One person having an out-of-body experience said this: "I was suddenly not in my body but above it...I could see, but all around, as

if my mind ...had eye-facets all over."

On page 72 of Green's book on out-of-body experiences, we read this:

On page 79 of Green's book she quotes someone who claims to have seen through a wall during an out-of-body experience. 

Around page 59 of his book Lessons From the Light, Kenneth Ring begins discussing cases that seemed to show superior vision during out-of-body experiences. He mentions some cases of people who reported being able to see very clearly the dust that was in some high spot above their bodies, such as the dust on a hanging lamp. On page 60 he estimates that he encountered about six cases of what he calls the "dust on the light fixture" type. On the same page he quotes someone as saying that she could see in vivid detail during her our-of-body experience, even though she is very nearsighted, and at time was not wearing her glasses. On page 61 he quotes a first-person account of someone else who claimed he could see very clearly during an out-of-body experience, even though he was very myopic and not wearing glasses. 

On page 76 of Green's book, she quotes someone who claims to have seen clearly in the dark during an out-of-body experience outdoors. On page 78 she quotes someone who claims to have been able to see "in a full circle of 360" degrees during an out-of-body experience. 

The study "Differences and Commonalities Among Various Types of Perceived Out-of-Body Experiences (OBEs) (Phase II)" analyzed 252 reports of out-of-body experiences, received by those who filled out questionnaires after responding to advertising asking for responses from people who had out-of-body experiences.  On page 24 we read this: "Some of the participants reported they were able to see a much wider area than before. This even included a visual perception spanning up to 360° in some cases. Although there was a question about the clarity of sight asked during both phases, the question did not mention anything about the field of their vision, so their comments about a broader form of sight were not directly solicited and their descriptions contain self-chosen terms (e.g., 360°, etc.)." There then follows several quotes from survey respondents talking about 360 degree vision or "fish-eye lens" vision, and two respondents talking about a binocular or zoom ability. Page 26 quotes a person as saying "everything seemed very vivid, a higher definition," and quotes another person as saying, "I could see very clear and it looked crystal clear like it was the best high definition ever." The same page quotes another person as saying, "I could see everything perfectly clearly, which is odd because my glasses had fallen off my face in the accident." 

The author of a 2023 PhD dissertation ("Investigating the Nature and Psychological Impact of Out-of-Body Experiences") performed an online survey of 213 people who claimed to have had an out-of-body experience (page 156).  He states that 16% reported "the ability to see through physical objects" (page 450), that 23% reported "the ability to see at an abnormal distance" (page 450), that 45% reported "the ability to see in the dark" (page 450), and that 22% reported "the ability to see 360 degrees" (page 451). 

The 2025 paper "Inducing Unusual Bodily Sensations and Out-of-Body Experiences Across the Wake-Sleep Cycle: A High-Density Eeg and Neurophenomenology Study" is one of a class of papers that makes misleading insinuations that out-of-body experiences were somehow artificially induced. The paper describes some combination of suggested meditation techniques and visual stimulation, which the paper calls an "induction technique." Because the main element is the mental effort of the participants, what is going on is not actually any thing that can be fairly described as a technological induction technique or a pharmaceutical induction technique. We cannot trust any of the claims made that out-of-body experiences occurred, because we do not have first-hand testimony from the participants. We do not know whether statements they made were responses to leading questions, questions designed to push them in a particular descriptive direction, questions utilizing the power of suggestion. (Previous studies of this type have been marred by leading questions to subjects, such as "So did you kind of feel a sort of floating feeling?") The second-hand descriptions by the writers of the paper (describing what went on in someone else's mind) should not be trusted, as readers of the paper cannot compare such descriptions to first-hand testimony by the participants. The failure to provide first-hand testimony from the participants seems like a fatal flaw in this study. A researcher cannot be trusted to accurately describe what went on in someone else's mind, particularly when the researcher is motivated to put a desired interpretation on what someone else was experiencing. 

The 2025 paper "Out-of-body experiences: interpretations through the eyes of those who live them" examined the accounts of "10 participants without mental disorders or neurological and/or vestibular pathologies" who reported out-of-body experiences, none of them involving life-threatening situations.  We read this:

"All participants agreed that their experience was not only real but described it as more vivid and authentic than everyday reality. Four participants had no explanation for their experience, while one interpreted it in physiological terms. The remaining five explained their experiences using terms like 'other planes or dimensions' and 'universal consciousness,' aligning with some authors who use concepts such as 'non-local' or 'expanded consciousness' to address OBEs."

At the link here you can read a free online 160-page book on the topic of near-death experiences and out-of-body experiences. After you press the [] icon at the bottom of the screen, it is very easy to read the whole book by finger-swiping.