{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,1]],"date-time":"2026-10-01T12:07:55Z","timestamp":1790856475321,"version":"4.1.0"},"reference-count":60,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,1]],"date-time":"2026-10-01T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1790812800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Psychol."],"abstract":"<jats:p>\n                    Eye-to-eye gazing under low-level illumination provides a controlled laboratory paradigm for investigating out-of-body experiences (OBEs) and psychological projections. In the present study, a large sample of healthy participants (\n                    <jats:italic>N<\/jats:italic>\n                    = 398) completed a dyadic gazing task. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) conducted on nine items of the Strange-Face Questionnaire (SFQ) yielded a three-factor solution: (i) facial visual deformations (Derealization \/ Detachment-of-Reality; DR factor); (ii) out-of-body experiences (OBE factor); and (iii) apparitional projections of \u201cancestors\u201d (Projection factor). Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) and Path Analysis were employed to test the relationships among these constructs. Results demonstrated that OBEs play a pivotal role in facilitating the projection of \u201cancestors\u201d onto the partner\u2019s face, revealing a direct predictive path from disembodiment (OBE) to projective phenomena. This pathway generalized to other apparitional percepts, including the projection of a \u201cchild,\u201d \u201cadolescent,\u201d or \u201cmonster.\u201d Path Analyses further indicated that external reality serves a broader function than merely triggering perceptual distortions; rather, it operates as a \u201cgate\u201d regulating the inhibition versus excitation of internal projections depending on whether the projective content is \u201cpositive\u201d (ancestor, adolescent, child) or \u201cnegative\u201d (monster). We hypothesize that interoceptive\/proprioceptive embodied simulation\u2013driven by non-conscious, premotor mimicry of the partner\u2019s facial expressions and respiratory rhythm\u2013provides the somatic scaffolding required to bind elements from memory into multimodal consciousness. This mechanism allows the mind to dynamically shift processing between exteroceptive facial input, autobiographical memory, inherited facial engrams, and archetypal facial images. Finally, this research bridges experimental psychology with analytical psychology by mapping the projected figures of ancestor, adolescent, child, and monster onto Jung\u2019s core archetypes: the Wise Master (\n                    <jats:italic>Philemon\/Baucis<\/jats:italic>\n                    ), Perennial Youth (\n                    <jats:italic>Anima\/Animus<\/jats:italic>\n                    ), the Divine Child (\n                    <jats:italic>Puer Aeternus<\/jats:italic>\n                    ), and the Shadow, respectively. \u201cPositive\u201d versus \u201cnegative\u201d archetypes were operationalized using Path Analysis. Finally, Network Analysis maps the systemic interconnectedness among all seven archetypal projections identified across the SFQ items\u2013which, in addition to the four core archetypes, include\n                    <jats:italic>Hermaphroditus<\/jats:italic>\n                    ,\n                    <jats:italic>Animal<\/jats:italic>\n                    , and\n                    <jats:italic>Lapis<\/jats:italic>\n                    .\n                  <\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3389\/fpsyg.2026.1879392","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,1]],"date-time":"2026-10-01T11:28:29Z","timestamp":1790854109000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Laboratory set-up for OBEs and projections"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"17","author":[{"given":"Giovanni B.","family":"Caputo","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Humanistic Studies (DISTUM), University of Urbino","place":["Urbino, Italy"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,1]]},"reference":[{"key":"B1","first-page":"28","article-title":"Le signe du miroir dans les psychoses et plus sp\u00e9cialement dans la d\u00e9mence pr\u00e9coce","volume-title":"Annales m\u00e9dico-psychologiques","author":"Ab\u00e9ly","year":"1930"},{"key":"B2","volume-title":"Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition: DSM-5.","year":"2013"},{"key":"B3","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"7","DOI":"10.1016\/j.tics.2008.10.003","article-title":"Full-body illusions and minimal phenomenal selfhood.","volume":"13","author":"Blanke","year":"2009","journal-title":"Trends Cogn. 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