DEVELOPMENTAL CORRELATES OF OUT-OF-BODY EXPERIENCES (OBES) IN SPECIFIC STATES OF CONSCIOUSNESS - A REPLICATION FAILURE

Stanford (1987) found that subjects reporting of having had OBE(s), os tensibly in the waking state, correlated positively with reported perc entage of spare time that subjects spent reading or being read to duri ng early childhood. He also found that reporting of having had OBE(s), ostensibly while falling asleep, correlated positively with the repor ted percentage of spare time during early childhood that subjects spen t playing with imaginary playmates. The present research note reports a failure to replicate these findings in a study not intended as a met hodological replication of the one in which the findings appeared. Thi s failure to replicate in a methodologically somewhat divergent study suggests the need for additional work before definitive conclusions ca n be sustained.