The new findings show that the out-of-body experiences may be an illusion of the brain due to a malfunctioning vestibular system. The reporting of seeing 'tunnels of light' or 'spirals' is explained as a mismatch between information coming from the damaged ear system, and our visual sense.

While the new findings still have a few loopholes, the neuroscientists explain the 'birds-eye-view' of an out-of-body experience, the vision of us going out of our own perspective, as something the brain constructs automatically, due to conflicting signals of sensory information.