PMID- 25459150
OWN - NLM
STAT- MEDLINE
DCOM- 20151124
LR  - 20150202
IS  - 1532-2777 (Electronic)
IS  - 0306-9877 (Linking)
VI  - 83
IP  - 6
DP  - 2014 Dec
TI  - Sleep paralysis and "the bedroom intruder": the role of the right superior 
      parietal, phantom pain and body image projection.
PG  - 755-7
LID - S0306-9877(14)00360-0 [pii]
LID - 10.1016/j.mehy.2014.10.002 [doi]
AB  - Sleep paralysis (SP) is a common condition occurring either at sleep onset or 
      sleep offset. During SP the sleeper experiences gross motor paralysis while the 
      sensory system is clear. Hypnogogic and hypnopompic hallucinations are common 
      during SP and may involve seeing, hearing, and sensing the presence of menacing 
      intruders in one's bedroom. This "intruder" is often perceived as a shadowy 
      humanoid figure. Supernatural accounts of this hallucinated intruder are common 
      across cultures. In this paper, we postulate that a functional disturbance of the 
      right parietal cortex explains the shadowy nocturnal bedroom intruder 
      hallucination during SP. This hallucination may arise due to a disturbance in the 
      multisensory processing of body and self at the temporoparietal junction. We 
      specifically propose that this perceived intruder is the result of a hallucinated 
      projection of the genetically "hard-wired" body image (homunculus), in the right 
      parietal region; namely, the same circuits that dictate aesthetic and sexual 
      preference of body morphology. One way to test this hypothesis would be to study 
      clinical populations who may have genetically acquired "irregularities" in their 
      internal hard-wired body image in the right superior parietal lobule (SPL); for 
      example, individuals with apotemnophilia or anorexia nervosa. If such individuals 
      experience SP (e.g., induced in a sleep lab), and they hallucinate this shadowy 
      figure, one would predict that they would see humanoid shadows and shapes with 
      body irregularities, mirroring their own internal body image morphology. If 
      correct, our hypothesis will offer a neurological explanation for this nocturnal 
      bedroom intruder that has been a source of controversy, and striking and 
      implausible cultural interpretations throughout history. Indeed, if our proposed 
      hypothesis is tested and corroborated, dissemination of such findings would 
      provide great relief to SP experiencers worldwide and could potentially be used 
      in a therapeutic context.
CI  - Copyright (c) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
FAU - Jalal, Baland
AU  - Jalal B
AD  - Center for Brain & Cognition, University of California, at San Diego, USA. 
      Electronic address: bjalal@ucsd.edu.
FAU - Ramachandran, Vilayanur S
AU  - Ramachandran VS
AD  - Center for Brain & Cognition, University of California, at San Diego, USA.
LA  - eng
PT  - Journal Article
DEP - 20141013
PL  - United States
TA  - Med Hypotheses
JT  - Medical hypotheses
JID - 7505668
SB  - IM
MH  - Brain Mapping
MH  - *Hallucinations
MH  - Humans
MH  - Parietal Lobe/physiopathology
MH  - Phantom Limb
MH  - Sleep/physiology
MH  - Sleep Paralysis/*physiopathology
EDAT- 2014/12/03 06:00
MHDA- 2015/12/15 06:00
CRDT- 2014/12/03 06:00
PHST- 2014/06/20 00:00 [received]
PHST- 2014/09/25 00:00 [revised]
PHST- 2014/10/05 00:00 [accepted]
PHST- 2014/12/03 06:00 [entrez]
PHST- 2014/12/03 06:00 [pubmed]
PHST- 2015/12/15 06:00 [medline]
AID - S0306-9877(14)00360-0 [pii]
AID - 10.1016/j.mehy.2014.10.002 [doi]
PST - ppublish
SO  - Med Hypotheses. 2014 Dec;83(6):755-7. doi: 10.1016/j.mehy.2014.10.002. Epub 2014 
      Oct 13.