COGNITIVE NEUROPSYCHIATRY, 2002, 7 (3), 163 178
Alien abduction experiences: Some clues from
neuropsychology and neuropsychiatry
Katharine J. Holden and Christopher C. French
University of London, UK
Introduction. Many thousands of people around the world firmly believe that they
have been abducted by alien beings and taken on board spaceships where they have
been subjected to painful medical examination.
Method. Given that such accounts are almost certainly untrue, four areas of
neuroscience are considered with respect to possible clues that may lead towards a
fuller understanding of the alien abduction experience.
Results. First, it is argued that sleep paralysis may be implicated in many such
claims. Second, research into false memories is considered. It is argued that
abductees may be more prone to false memories than the general population.
Third, evidence is considered relating to the mental health of abductees. It is
concluded that there is currently no convincing evidence for higher rates of serious
psychopathology amongst abductees compared to the general population.
However, abductees do seem to show higher levels on some potentially relevant
measures (e.g., tendency to dissociate). Finally, claims that alien abduction
experiences may be linked to abnormal activity in the temporal lobes is considered.
Conclusion. Although the neurosciences provide many clues to the nature of this
bizarre experience, further research is required before a full understanding will be
attained.
This special issue of Cognitive Neuropsychiatry is devoted to the neuro-
psychiatry of the body in space. Readers might be forgiven for assuming that
the word space is being used here in a general sense and not in the sense of
Star Trek s space . . . the final frontier . In the case of the current article,
however, such an assumption may be mistaken.
A universally accepted definition of the alien abduction experience (AAE)
is not possible, as different commentators have emphasised different features.
However, according to Bullard (1987), common features include capture by
the aliens and subsequent examination (physical, mental, and/or spiritual).
The experience may also include communication with the aliens (often
Correspondenc e should be addressed to Professor Christopher C. French, Anomalistic
Psychology Research Unit, Goldsmiths College, University of London, New Cross, London SE14
6NW, UK; e-mail: c.french@gold.ac.uk
# 2002 Psychology Press Ltd
http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/pp/13546805.html DOI:10.1080/13546800244000058
164 HOLDEN AND FRENCH
telepathically), a guided tour of the UFO, trips to other worlds, the receipt of
important messages for humanity, being returned (usually to the point of
initial abduction), and various post-abduction effects. According to Jacobs
(1992, 1998), various reproductive procedures are also a common feature of
such experiences (e.g., collection of sperm or ova, implantation of alien-
human hybrid embryos, removal of foetuses, sexual activity, and presentation
of hybrid babies). Other attempts to characterise the alien abduction
experience are summarised in Table 1. As Appelle, Lynn, and Newman
(2000) comment, If nothing else, these descriptions illustrate that the AAE
is a dynamic, elaborate, and involved experience, rich in contextual detail,
with considerable perceptual, psychological, cognitive, and physical concomi-
tants (p. 255).
TABLE 1
Summary of typical characteristics of alien abduction experiences
Gitlib, Appelle, Rodeghier, and Flamburis (1994) characteristic features:
. Recall of an abduction or encounter with apparently nonhuman entities.
. Missing time related to recall of unidentified lights, objects, or apparently nonhuman entities.
. Unusually realistic and emotionally intense dreams or dream-like experiences of UFOs or
apparently nonhuman entities.
Hopkins, Jacobs, and Westrum s (1992) indicator experiences :
. Waking up paralysed with a sense of a strange figure or figures present.
. Missing time.
. The feeling of actually flying.
. Seeing balls of light in one s room.
. The presence of puzzling scars on one s body.
Rodeghier s (1994) selection criteria for abductees:
A person must be taken:
. against his or her will,
. from terrestrial surroundings ,
. by nonhuman beings.
The beings must take the person to:
. an enclosed place,
. not terrestrial in appearance,
. assumed or known to be spacecraft by the witness.
In this place the person must either:
. be subjected to an examination,
. engage in communication (verbal or telepathic),
. or both.
These experiences may be remembered:
. Consciously,
. or through methods of focused concentration (e.g. hypnosis).
ALIEN ABDUCTION EXPERIENCES 165
It is also evident from the literature that there is no consensus regarding just
how many people believe themselves to be the victims of alien abduction.
Bullard (1994) surveyed just 13 UFO investigators and found that between them
they had details of around 1700 cases. Strieber (1998) claims to have received
almost a quarter of a million letters from individuals claiming alien contact.
Jacobs (1992) has suggested that as many as 15 million Americans may have
been abducted and according to Mack (1992, p. 7), Hundreds of thousands, if
not millions, of American men, women and children may have experienced UFO
abductions, or abduction-related phenomena . As Stacy (1992) points out, the
logistics of such a level of invasion by aliens defy common sense and simply fail
to compute. Although the number of people with conscious memories of alien
abduction experiences is orders of magnitude lower than most of these
estimates, it is undeniable that a large number of people throughout the world
are convinced that they have been abducted by aliens.
Uninformed sceptics often assert that alleged alien abductees are simply lying
about their experiences. The assumed motivations are financial, in that claimants
may make money from books and film rights. They are also psychosocial, in that
the abductee may become a celebrated case, appear at conferences and on talk
shows, and generally have opportunities that would otherwise not be available to
them. However, as Appelle (1996) points out, in the vast majority of cases
abductees do not go public and although some cases may indeed be deliberate
hoaxes, most informed sceptics generally accept that the majority of claimants
are sincere in their beliefs. If abductees are not deliberately deceiving other
people, is it possible that they really were abducted by aliens? This seems highly
unlikely, as the evidence presented in support of alien visitation is far weaker
than uncritical and sensationalist media coverage typically implies. Even such
celebrated cases as the alleged crash of a flying saucer and recovery of alien
bodies near Roswell, New Mexico, in 1947 are in fact based on incredibly weak
evidence (see, e.g., Klass, 1997; Korff, 1997).
Assuming that abductees are not deliberately deceiving others about their
experiences and also assuming that they are almost certainly wrong in thinking
that they really have had a close encounter with an alien, the question arises of
how one is to account for their claims. A review of the literature reveals that a
number of different approaches to answering this question have been adopted.
One approach involves focusing on the personalities of abductee claimants and
exploring factors such as levels of fantasy proneness (e.g., Bartholomew,
Basterfield, & Howard, 1991; Bartholomew & Howard, 1998; Newman &
Baumeister, 1996; Ring & Rosing, 1990; Rodeghier, Goodpaster, & Blatter-
bauer, 1991; Spanos, Cross, Dickson, & DuBreuil, 1993), boundary-deficit
personality (e.g., Parnell & Sprinkle, 1990; Ring & Rosing, 1990), escape-from-
self and masochistic fantasies (e.g., Newman & Baumeister, 1996), and the
psychically sensitive personality (e.g., Johnson, 1994). Others have viewed alien
abduction experiences as the product of biased investigators (e.g., Klass, 1988;
166 HOLDEN AND FRENCH
Matheson, 1998). Finally, some researchers have considered the claims of alien
abductees in terms of possible clues from the fields of neuropsychology and
neuropsychiatry. The focus of this paper is on the latter.
For more general reviews of the alien abduction phenomenon, the reader is
referred to Appelle (1996), Appelle, Lynn, and Newman (2000), Bartholomew
and Howard (1998), Devereux and Brookesmith (1997), French (2001),
Newman and Baumeister (1996), Randle, Estes, and Cone (1999), and
Rutkowski (2000).
SLEEP PARALYSIS
As Baker (1995) points out, a search for possible explanations of alien abduction
experiences on the medical database MEDLINE yields no results if one types in
words such as UFO contacts or alien abduction . This does not, however,
indicate that medicine has little to offer in the way of explanations for such
claims. Indeed, for anyone familiar with sleep disorders, the accounts given by
abductees may, according to some theorists, often be explained by a
nonpathological sleep disorder known as sleep paralysis (e.g., Baker, 1995;
Blackmore, 1994; Newman & Baumeister, 1996; Randle, Estes, & Cone, 1999).
Given that many UFO experiences are associated with sleep (e.g., almost 60% of
the intense experiences in a study by Spanos et al., 1993), this is a reasonable
assertion. Sleep paralysis is a standard symptom of narcolepsy but can occur
quite commonly in the general population (e.g., Everett, 1963; Dahlitz & Parkes,
1993). The muscles of the body are paralysed during the REM (rapid eye
movement) stage of sleep which occurs several times during each night. Only on
rare occasions, however, are people consciously aware of their paralysis during
this sleep stage. For this reason a number of writers refer to the condition as ASP
(awareness during sleep paralysis).
ASP is often associated with other puzzling symptoms and occurs as a person
(usually lying on their back) is either about to fall asleep or is just waking up. An
episode usually begins with the person feeling that they are becoming heavier
and heavier. Although the subject is consciously aware of his/her environment
they are unable to move (except for the eyes) or to speak. It is often
accompanied by an increased heart rate, breathing difficulties, and acute feelings
of anxiety or dread. Fortunately, ASP is a transient state and may only last from
a matter of seconds, up to a period of several minutes. The results of a number of
studies suggest that somewhere between 25% to 40% of the population have had
some experience of it (e.g., Fukuda, Mayasita, Inugami, & Ishihara, 1987).
Despite such relatively high levels of ASP the condition is not common
knowledge among the general public. People are thus unlikely to describe their
unusual experiences in terms of ASP, but rather to describe it in terms of a spirit
encounter, or an encounter with a being from another planet. Indeed, accounts of
alien abduction including the unusual sensations above are far more common in
ALIEN ABDUCTION EXPERIENCES 167
modern Western society, for example, Streiber s (1987) best-selling book,
Communion: A true story, than scientific accounts of ASP.
It has been found that ASP is likely to be accompanied by hypnagogic and
hypnopompi c imagery, which consist of anomalous sensory experiences. For
example, Cheyne, Newby-Clark, and Rueffer (1999a) found that of 254
participants reporting sleep paralysis, 99 reported auditory experiences and 75
reported visual experiences. The word hypnagogic comes from the Greek
hypnos (sleep) and agogos (leading). It refers to sensations, such as
hallucinations (auditory and visual), a terrifying sense of presence (often
described as threatening or evil; see, e.g., Cheyne, 2001), a feeling of pressure
on the chest, and the feeling of floating. The word hypnopompic comes from
the Greek hypnos (sleep) and pompe (procession) and refers to the same
sensations when they are experienced after sleep, prior to complete awakening.
The visual hallucinations may involve lights, animals, strange figures, and
demons. Auditory hallucinations may include heavy footsteps, humming or
buzzing noises, and sounds of heavy objects being moved. Various theories have
been proposed to explain the association of such hallucinations with ASP and
those of Terrillon and Marques-Bonham (2001) and Cheyne, Rueffer, and
Newby-Clark (1999b) are outlined below.
In the past, hypnagogic and hypnopompic experiences were interpreted in
terms of alleged attacks by the incubus (male demon) and the succubus (female
demon). It was claimed that these demons would appear in the night and leap on
to the victim s chest and try to choke the sleeper. Other demons were said to
enter the victim s room and engage in sexual intercourse with them. Indeed, the
Latin word incubus translates into one who presses or crushes . The same
core experience has been reported throughout history in many different cultures,
although the interpretation of the experience may vary (Hufford, 1982). For
example, Slavic folklore refers to the Vjek demon who tries to crush victims by
lying down on their chests.
Episodes of ASP, although terrifying, are quite harmless, but in order to
understand how a body can suddenly become paralysed when that person is in a
waking state, one needs to first consider normal sleep cycles. When a person is
asleep REM and non-REM (NREM) sleep alternates cyclically throughout the
night. According to the activation-synthesis theory of dreaming (Hobson &
McCarley, 1977; McCarley & Hobson, 1979), REM sleep occurs due to
inhibitory action of REM-off cells in reciprocal interaction with REM-on cells.
These mechanisms in the brain stem (specifically, reticular, vestibular, and
oculomotor neurons) prevent motor output and block sensory input and provide
the forebrain with internally generated activity. The role of the forebrain centre
is to transform quasi-random activation into meaningful patterns.
For almost half a century REM and NREM have been acknowledged as being
distinctly different phases of sleep (Aserinsky & Kleitman, 1953; Jouvet, 1967).
REM sleep is characterised by low voltage fast EEG waves with slow theta
168 HOLDEN AND FRENCH
activity (e.g., Symons, 1993). Dreaming is more common and more vivid in this
stage of sleep when compared to NREM sleep (e.g., Dement & Kleitman, 1957).
In REM sleep, heart rate, breathing, and blood pressure vary, the eyes move
rapidly and there are movements of the middle ear (e.g., Symons, 1993). In this
state, the body is usually in a state of nonreciprocal flaccid paralysis and
cannot move. This is thought to serve a protective function, to stop people from
acting out their dreams or nightmares, thus preventing harm to the self or others.
Patients who suffer from a rare condition called REM sleep behaviour
disorder lack this normal nonreciprocal flaccid paralysis and often act out
violent scenes of their dreams, sometimes leading to severe injuries to their
sleeping partners.
Unfortunately, little is known regarding the physiology of ASP. It is thought,
however, that the condition occurs as a function of post-synaptic inhibition of
motoneurons in the pons region of the brain. Terrillon and Marques-Bonham
(2001) have recently suggested that a low level of melatonin (the primary
hormone of the pineal gland) in the blood serum may stop the depolarisation
current in the nerves, thus preventing the stimulation of the muscle cells. They
propose that ASP may occur due to the inappropriate timing of melatonin
inhibition and, consequently, of low melatonin plasma levels. This would cause
a brief imbalance of electrolytes (potassium and sodium) on either side of the
nerve cell, resulting in paralysis. These authors admit, however, that their theory
is somewhat speculative and further research in this area is required. Terrillon
and Marques-Bonham (2001) have also argued that during ASP the nervous and
endocrine systems carry on releasing the neural inhibitors which keep the
subject paralysed, but these same systems may continue to release the neural
activators that stimulate dreaming. The somatosensory input that occurs during
REM sleep is not blocked as it is during normal sleep and this input may
combine with REM sleep imagery leading to the experience of hallucinations.
Cheyne et al. (1999b; see also Cheyne, 2001) have recently proposed a
neurological model of ASP which separately accounts for three sets of
experiences. The first set of experiences (which they label The Intruder )
consists of a sensed presence, extreme fear, and auditory and visual
hallucinations. Cheyne et al. suggest that these experiences are due to activation
of the amygdala. The amygdala is known to be involved in normal fear
reactions, particularly involving the nature and seriousness of threat stimuli
(LeDoux, 1998). Cheyne et al. hypothesise that during ASP, due to a lack of
external cues, this process of analysing the source of fear may last for several
minutes, rather than the usual fraction of a second. In this situation, subjects may
experience an awareness of a presence, and associated fear. As this persists,
increasingly elaborate interpretations may be made, and endogenous (e.g.,
middle ear activity) or external stimuli (e.g., shadows or external sounds) may
be interpreted within the context of the sensed presence thus resulting in
auditory and visual hallucinations. This argument is certainly in line with
ALIEN ABDUCTION EXPERIENCES 169
previous work by these authors which has shown a high correlation between fear
and sensed presence (e.g., Cheyne et al., 1999a).
The second set of ASP experiences explained on a neurological level by
Cheyne et al. (1999b) is labelled Incubus , and includes feelings of a strong
pressure on the chest or back and associated breathing difficulties and pain.
Cheyne et al. suggest that these experiences are due to the fact that when a
person in REM sleep tries to control their breathing (e.g., by breathing deeply)
their lack of success may be interpreted by the brain as pressure. Due to their
paralysis, the lack of feedback associated with their strenuous efforts may lead
to painful spasms (Ramachandran, Rogers-Ramachandran, & Cobb, 1995) and
feelings of being crushed or choked.
Cheyne et al. (1999b) label the final set of ASP experiences Unusual Bodily
Experiences . These include sensations of floating or flying and out-of-body
experiences. Cheyne et al. suggest that as the person is paralysed during REM
and thus cannot receive feedback, any vestibular activation will be interpreted as
sensations of floating or flying. This interpretation will be further complicated if
the person opens their eyes and receives conflicting information from the
environment. This may lead to a perception of an out-of-body experience, a
phenomena which has been indirectly linked to REM states within the context of
lucid dreaming (e.g., Irwin, 1988). Although out-of-body experiences have been
associated with feelings of terror and fear (e.g., Devinsky, Feldman, Burrowes,
& Bromfield, 1989) they have also been linked to positive feelings and even
bliss (e.g., Twemlow, Gabbard, & Jones, 1982).
The idea that all alien abduction descriptions reflect a classic textbook
description (Baker, 1990, p. 251) of ASP and, in particular, hypnagogic
hallucination is an interesting one. It is clear that there are a number of
commonalities between this sleep anomaly and abduction experiences. As
Appelle (1996, p. 43) points out:
In addition to the high prevalence of nighttime occurrence, the unaccounted-for
passages of time, and the experience of paralysis, both abduction experiences and
sleep anomalies may be reported throughout the lifespan (abduction experiences
have been reported by young children, adolescents, adults, and the elderly: the
symptoms of sleep disorders may persist across the lifespan), and both may have a
genetic or familial history (abduction experiences often occur within families and
across generations; a similar relationship exists for victims of sleep disorders
[Honda, Asaka, Tanimura, & Furusho, 1983]).
It is also undeniable that many descriptions of alien abduction experiences,
such as feeling paralysed and seeing strange beings, do bear a striking
resemblance to the experiences reported by those who suffer from bouts of
ASP.
Some, however, have claimed that a direct link between sleep paralysis and
alien abduction experiences has yet to be firmly established (e.g., Appelle et al.,
170 HOLDEN AND FRENCH
2000). It is certainly the case that there are many differences between sleep
paralysis and alien abduction experiences. Furthermore, Terrillon and Marques-
Bonham (2001), found that although about half of the respondents they recruited
from a sleep web site invoked a paranormal cause to explain their ASP, none
interpreted their experiences as alien abductions. From this they conclude:
Either individuals who report alien abductions have chosen not to post
messages, or the association between ASP and alien abductions is not as strong
as it is generally thought (p. 115). However, such a conclusion is unwarranted.
It is unlikely that self-reported abductees would visit a sleep-related website
very often given that they would not view their strange experiences as being due
to a sleep-related anomaly in the first place. There is clearly a need for further
research into the possible links between sleep-related anomalies and alien
abduction claims.
FALSE MEMORIES
As stated, the experiences associated with ASP fall far short of a full-blown
alien abduction experience in which individuals may report being taken on board
alien spaceships and subjected to painful medical examination. How is it that
individuals can end up believing that they have had contact with extraterrestrials
on the basis of an episode of sleep paralysis?
In some cases, it appears that abductees base their claim entirely upon their
memory of what they experienced during the sleep paralysis episode and have
no conscious recollection whatsoever of any actual contact with aliens. They do
this because self-appointed UFO experts have widely disseminated the idea that
typical symptoms of ASP are indicative of abduction by aliens. The most
notorious example of this was the Roper Poll carried out in the early 1990s
(Hopkins et al., 1992), a survey of anomalous experiences in a random sample of
5947 American adults. The authors estimate that 3.7 million Americans had
been abducted was not based upon reports of consciously remembered
abductions at all, but was an extrapolation based on the incidence of occurrence
of fairly common sleep paralysis symptoms. For many people, the explanation
that their frightening experience of ASP was actually all that remained of an
alien encounter once their memories had been wiped (almost) clean at least
allowed them to begin to make sense of the episode. It also reassured them that
they were not going crazy .
Many sufferers at this point seek out the services of therapists specialising in
alien abductions. They are likely to be subject to a variety of techniques alleged
to uncover repressed memories , such as hypnosis or guided imagery. Most
will obligingly produce the now-standard account of a full-blown alien
abduction. The dangers of the use of hypnotic regression and related techniques
in this context have been emphasised by many commentators (e.g., Randle et al.,
1999; Showalter, 1997; Spanos, 1996). The available evidence overwhelmingly
ALIEN ABDUCTION EXPERIENCES 171
supports the idea that the accounts produced are false memories which are
believed in with total conviction by the claimant.
Recent research has begun to address the neuropsychology of false memories.
False memories for words can reliably be produced by presenting participants
with lists of words (e.g., thread, sew, pin, etc.) which are all strongly associated
with a target word (e.g., needle) which is not actually presented. During a
subsequent recognition or recall task a large proportion of participants will
confidently assert that the target word was indeed presented. An early study by
Schacter et al. (1996) revealed that the pattern of activation in the brain when
participants accurately recognised previously presented words was generally
very similar to that found when they falsely identified target words which had
not in fact been presented. Specifically, there was strong activation in the frontal
lobes as well as activation in the inner parts of the temporal lobe near the
hippocampus. Intriguingly, there were also hints of some differences in the
pattern of activation. An area of the frontal lobe believed to be involved in
monitoring memories appeared to show greater activity during false recognition
compared to accurate recognition. Subsequent work using the more appropriate
technique of measuring event-related potentials, however, supported the notion
that brain activity is very similar whether word recognition is true or false
(Johnson et al., 1997).
There is some evidence to suggest that abductees may be more prone to false
memories than others. Clancy and colleagues (unpublished study, cited in
Schacter, 2001) have very recently shown that abductees are more susceptible to
false memories for words using the technique described above. Recent research
has shown that it is possible to implant false memories in many people not only
for simple words but for entire episodes (Loftus, 2001). It would be of great
interest to directly compare abductees with appropriate control groups for
susceptibility to this type of false memory. There is evidence to suggest that
many of the features said to characterise abductees (tendency to dissociate,
difficulty distinguishing fantasy from reality, etc.; see, e.g., French, 2001) are
precisely those that would indeed lead to heightened susceptibility to false
memories.
PSYCHOPATHOLOGY
It is often assumed that people who claim to have been abducted by aliens are
mentally disturbed. This is the view sometimes taken by the mass media, who in
the past have attributed sightings of UFOs to psychopathological disturbances
in the witness (Schwarz, 1979, p. 113). Psychopathological disorders that may
account for abductee experiences are characterised by delusions and include
various forms of psychosis, personality disorders, and dissociative disorders.
Although data are limited, those which are available suggest that serious
psychopathology is no more common amongst those claiming alien contact than
172 HOLDEN AND FRENCH
among the general population. For example, Spanos et al. (1993) compared
people who had reported intense UFO-related experiences (e.g., missing time or
seeing and communicating with aliens) with those who had reported nonintense
experiences (e.g., seeing unidentified lights in the sky) and with control groups
not reporting any UFO experiences. The groups were not found to differ on
objective measures of psychopathology. In addition, Parnell and Sprinkle (1990)
administered the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) to 225
individuals reporting UFO experiences and concluded that there was no overt
psychopathology (p. 45) in the group as a whole. The conclusion that
abductees do not show higher levels of psychopathology was also reached by
Bloecher, Clamar, & Hopkins (1985) with respect to nine abductees, Rodeghier
et al. (1991) for 27 abductees, and Mack (1994) for his 76 abduction cases.
Finally, Bartholomew et al. (1991) analysed the biographies of 152 subjects who
reported temporary abductions or repeated UFO contact and found them to be
remarkably devoid of a history of mental illness (p. 215).
The data do, however, suggest that abductees are not psychologically
representative of the population as a whole. In the study by Parnell and Sprinkle
(1990), those who claimed to have communicated with aliens had a
significantly greater tendency to endorse unusual feelings, thoughts, and
attitudes; to be suspicious or distrustful; and to be creative, imaginative, or
possibly have schizoid tendencies (p. 45). Rodeghier et al. (1991) reported
relatively higher levels of loneliness, unhappiness, and poorer sleep patterns.
Mack (1994) reported high levels of childhood trauma, as did Ring and Rosing
(1990). The latter investigators also reported that, as children, abductees were
more sensitive to non-ordinary realities . In addition, Stone-Carmen (1994)
found that a staggering 57% of her sample of abductees reported suicide
attempts. Finally, dissociative tendencies (i.e., the tendency for some mental
processes to temporarily split off from the normal stream of consciousness)
have been shown to be higher in abductees than nonabductees by Powers (1994).
As already noted, the tendency to dissociate is associated with susceptibility to
false memories.
The overall conclusion for the psychopathology hypothesis, however, must
be that the idea that people who claim that they have been abducted by aliens are
in some way mentally unstable is currently not strongly supported by empirical
evidence.
ABNORMAL ACTIVITY IN THE TEMPORAL LOBES
Another interesting hypothesis which has been proposed to account for the
unusual experiences which some people may interpret as being an alien
encounter involves the temporal lobes. Penfield and Perot (1963) reported that
auditory hallucinations can be brought about in participants by direct electrical
stimulation of the temporal lobes. Following on from work such as this,
ALIEN ABDUCTION EXPERIENCES 173
Persinger (e.g., Persinger, 1990; Persinger & Makarec, 1987; Persinger &
Valliant, 1985) has argued that a variety of unusual experiences, including the
experience of being abducted by aliens, can be accounted for in terms of
abnormal activity in the temporal lobes. It has been found that people who suffer
from partial complex or limbic (temporal lobe) epilepsy often report that their
seizures are preceded by strange sensations. These include seeing shadowy
figures and other visual and auditory hallucinations (O Donohoe, 1994), hearing
voices, smelling strange odours, feelings of levitation and anxiety (Ervin, 1975),
and strange sensations around the genitals and anal sphincter (Remillard et al.,
Â
1983). Persinger (1989) has also reported that temporal lobe seizures are
associated with a feeling that something profound has occurred and with feelings
of missing time. On the face of it, it is clear that many of these experiences are
very similar to those reported by alien abductees.
This does not mean, however that people who report abduction experiences
are simply suffering from temporal lobe epilepsy. Persinger (1984) believes that
complex partial epilepsy falls at one end of a continuum, and that people may
have differing degrees of abnormal temporal lobe activity. In addition, he asserts
that people with higher degrees of such activity are more prone than others to
experiences that resemble (in a less intense form) the experiences reported by
limbic seizure sufferers. According to Persinger, people with these higher levels
of temporal lobe lability report what he terms benign limbic experiences ,
which include feelings of presence, flashback imagery, depersonalisation, and
odd smells and beliefs.
Persinger has developed a technique whereby he applies weak complex
magnetic fields directly to people s heads. One participant in his experiments
was psychologist Susan Blackmore (Blackmore, 1994). She described a
variety of unusual sensations including a feeling of having her limbs pulled,
anger, fear, and disorientation. Although it is clear that such sensations are
not strikingly similar to those reported by alien abductees, Blackmore argues
that they nonetheless could provide the basic material through which alien
abduction experiences could be created. More recently, Persinger and
colleagues have reported that they were able to induce the subjective
appearance of an apparition in a susceptible volunteer using this technique
(Persinger, Tiller, & Koren, 2000). In this case the participant was a 45-year-
old journalist and professional musician who claimed to have had a haunt
experience four years previously. Persinger et al. report that within ten
minutes of exposure to transcerebral magnetic fields over the right hemi-
sphere, the man reported intense rushes of fear and cold shivering . This
participant reported that the synthetic experience of the apparition was very
similar to the one experienced in the natural setting (p. 659). It is clear that
if such an effect is replicated by independent investigators, it could be of
tremendous significance in accounting for a whole range of ostensibly
paranormal phenomena.
174 HOLDEN AND FRENCH
Finally, and even more controversially, Persinger (1990) has formulated the
Tectonic Stress Theory (TST). This theory states that most UFO
phenomena (not due to frank misobservation) are natural events, generated by
stresses and strains within the earth s crust (p. 105). These stresses and strains
are the result of movements of tectonic plates and can result in strong
electromagnetic fields. Persinger suggests that luminous phenomena alleged to
be associated with such tectonic activity are often wrongly reported as UFOs. In
addition, the electromagmagnetic fields are said to result in overactivity of the
temporal lobe in susceptible individuals, causing symptoms similar to temporal
lobe epilepsy (e.g., visual and auditory hallucinations and bizarre experiences),
and even full-blown alien abduction experiences.
To date, the presence of electromagnetic fields during alien abduction
experiences has not been conclusively demonstrated and Persinger s theory
has been criticised on theoretical grounds (e.g., Jacobs, 1990; Long, 1990;
Rutkowski, 1984, 1990, 1994). In addition, the prevalence of temporal lobe
lability among alien abductees has also not been established. For example,
Spanos et al. (1983) compared 49 UFO reporters with control groups using
the 52-item temporal lobe subscale of the Personal Philosophy Inventory
designed by Persinger and Makarec (1987) to assess temporal lobe lability.
They found no differences between groups. More recently, Cox (1995)
compared 12 British abductees with a matched control group and a student
control group and revealed no differences on the temporal lobe lability scale.
It is clear that more research needs to be conducted to assess the validity of
Persinger s claims.
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION
In summary, the evidence relating to alien abduction experiences do not
support the view that claimants really have been abducted (or, in general, that
they are deliberately lying). Four areas of neuropsychology and neuro-
psychiatry have been considered as potentially supplying clues to under-
standing such claims. First, it has been argued that alien abductee accounts
are often based on episodes of awareness during sleep paralysis. Second, the
neuropsychology of false memories has been discussed. It is almost certainly
the case that most (and probably all) claims of elaborate alien abduction are
based on false memories. Third, research has been outlined which has
explored the possibility that abductees are somehow mentally unstable. There
is currently no strong evidence that abductees in general suffer from serious
psychopathology at a higher rate than the general population. In more subtle
ways, however, they are not representative of the general population. Finally,
the theory that some abductee experiences are due to abnormal activity in the
temporal lobes has been addressed, along with the suggestion that tectonic
strain is somehow implicated. Potentially, such ideas may go a long way
ALIEN ABDUCTION EXPERIENCES 175
towards explaining abduction experiences as well as other ostensibly
paranormal experiences, but more supporting evidence is needed, particularly
from independent investigators.
In fact, although neuropsychology and neuropsychiatry provide tantalising
clues with respect to a fuller understanding of the alien abduction experience, it
must be recognised that much more research is needed in all four of the areas
discussed. Furthermore, even excluding the minority of cases based on serious
psychopathology or deliberate hoaxes, there are still many cases on which the
neurosciences can currently cast little light. To give but one example, many
alleged abductions occur when people are driving in their cars. There are many
anecdotal accounts of so-called highway hypnosis in which, especially
during long monotonous drives, individuals may enter a dissociated state. In
mild forms, this may simply produce the experience of missing time familiar to
most experienced drivers. In some cases, however, it appears to form the basis of
full abduction experiences. Clearly, this is an area that deserves further
consideration by neuroscientists.
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