Out-of-body memory encoding causes thirdperson perspective at recall
Date
2022Author
Bergouignan, Loretxu
Nyberg, Lars
Ehrsson, H. Henrik
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Loretxu Bergouignan, Lars Nyberg & H. Henrik Ehrsson (2022) Out-of-body memory encoding causes third-person perspective at recall, Journal of Cognitive Psychology, 34:1, 160-178, DOI: 10.1080/20445911.2021.1958823
Journal of Cognitive Psychology
Journal of Cognitive Psychology
Abstract
Sigmund Freud famously noted some memories are recalled with a perspective of “an
observer from outside the scene”. According to Freud—and most memory researchers
today—the third-person perspective occurs due to reconstructive processes at recall.
An alternative possibility is that the third-person perspective have been adopted
when the actual event is experienced and later recalled in its original form. Here we
test this hypothesis using a perceptual out-of-body illusion during the encoding of
real events. Participants took part in a social interaction while experiencing an out-ofbody
illusion where they viewed the event and their own body from a third-person
perspective. In recall sessions ∼1 week later, events encoded in the out-of-body
compared to the in-body control condition were significantly less recalled from a firstperson
perspective. An out-of-body experience leads to more third-person perspective
during recollection.