Out-of-body experience? It's your brain playing tricks

London: Have had an out-of-body experience? It's nothing, just your brain playing tricks on you, according to a new study. Researchers from the universities of Edinburgh and Cambridge claim that common spooky scenarios, such as floating above a hospital bed or walking towards the light at the end

of a tunnel, can be explained by human brain trying to make sense of the process of death.

For their study, the researchers reviewed studies into changes in the brain that cause certain sensations associated with near-death experiences. Lead researcher Caroline Watt said one common vision -- that of people seeing a bright light which seems to be drawing them into the afterlife -- is probably produced by the death of the cells we use to process the light picked up by our eyes and turn it into pictures.

"The most parsimonious explanation is not that you are travelling to some spiritual realm -- it is simply your brain trying to make sense of the unusual experiences you are having," the 'Daily Mail' quoted Dr Watt as saying. Feelings of being out of the body can also be explained by the brain's behaviour, say the researchers.

"If you put on a virtual reality headset showing an image of yourself three feet in front, you can trick your brain into thinking that is you over there, and get the sense you are outside your body.

"The scientific evidence suggests that all aspects of the near-death experience have a biological basis," said Dr Watt whose findings have been published in the 'Trends in Cognitive Sciences' journal.