I don't normally mind ghost movies, but for some reason Poltergeist really gives me the creeps. Just the hint of the eerie, otherworldly presences have me checking the shadows and closets for spooks. I don't wanna feel any other presence besides my own flesh and blood as it resides on terra firma.
But of course, people really do report feeling creepy presences in their midst and other weird phenomena. Are there explanations for these sensations, other than paranormal or being an extra in a movie? Out of Body Experience: Your Brain is To Blame offers a rational explanation.
Neuroscientists working with patients prepping for epilepsy surgery found that applying current to certain areas of the brain can produce the illusion of shadowy presences and other bodily illusions. The stimulated area, the angular gyrus, turns out to be responsible for assembling the steams of multiple sensory areas into perceptions. By applying small amounts of current to the angular gyrus, this assembling process gets scrambled a bit. But in the process of trying to make sense of what's going on, the brain can produce some weird stuff. One woman felt like she was hanging from the ceiling:
Because the woman’s felt position in space and her actual position in space did not match, her mind cast about for the best way to turn her confusion into a coherent experience, (researcher) Dr. Blanke said. She concluded that she must be floating up and away while looking downward.
So it turns out to be the brain, and not the paranormal that's playing the tricks here:
When otherwise normal people experience bodily delusions, Dr. Blanke said, they are often flummoxed. The felt sensation of the body is so seamless, so familiar, that people do not realize it is a creation of the brain, even when something goes wrong and the brain is perturbed.
Still, I'm going to pass on any more viewings of Poltergeist - especially so close to Halloween.