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Ghost in the room? It could all be in your brainwaves |
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Friday, 10 August 2007 |
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NEUROSCIENTISTS investigating a young woman with epilepsy believe
they have stumbled on an explanation why some people feel a ghostly
presence nearby or develop paranoia. The 22-year-old woman was
being assessed for brain surgery for epilepsy but was otherwise
psychologically healthy. Part of the evaluation pinpointed the area
for surgery, using thin electrodes implanted into a region of the
brain. Reporting the case in today's Nature, the weekly British
science journal, the doctors say that when they sent a small
current to the woman's left temporo-parietal junction, she said
she had the impression there was somebody behind her. The person
was a "shadow," young and of indeterminate sex and did not speak,
she said. The doctors slightly increased the current and changed
the woman's position from lying down to seated, and got her to hug
her knees. She then said she felt the creepy presence of man who
was also sitting and who was clasping her unpleasantly in his arms.
The temporo-parietal junction is used for social reasoning - to
assess oneself and distinguish oneself from others. - Sapa-AFP
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Neuroscience 
