Out-of-body experiences may be nothing more than the brain becoming confused, scientists claim today.

Throughout history there have been vivid accounts of people departing their body when they are on the brink of death. Some describe gazing down on themselves as they lay unconscious in an operating theatre.

Today, the first artificially created out-of-body experiences are described in two studies that back the idea that these bizarre effects occur when the brain becomes confused by conflicts in what the senses are telling it, rather than anything to do with a larger, spiritual dimension, a glimpse of Heaven, or the existence of the soul.

In the journal Science, Dr Henrik Ehrsson, of the Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, reports the feat along with a Swiss-German team led by Prof Olaf Blanke.

Dr Ehrsson, while at University College London, created the experience by feeding the senses of a person contradictory information as they wore a pair of head-mounted video displays.

A similar set-up, where misleading sight and touch information was used to confuse the brain, is reported by a team led by Prof Blanke from the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne.

The experiences were similar to feelings of disembodiment reported by patients who suffer conditions such as epilepsy, said Prof Blanke. The work suggests that faults in the way the brain combines information from the senses, notably balance, touch and sight, can lead to the strange experiences, he added.

Out-of-body experiences can occur in part through drug use, epileptic seizures and other types of brain disturbances.

They have also been reported in association with traumatic experiences such as car accidents. About one person in 10 claims to have had such an experience.