Abstract

Asked 47 college-aged Ss to indicate (a) percentage of spare time during early childhood spent reading or being read to, playing imaginary games alone, playing with imaginary playmates, and playing with other children; (b) use of a transitional object (e.g., doll or stuffed animal to which the child was emotionally attached); and (c) relative frequencies of spanking and deprivation as punishment and use of imagination to cope with punishment. Spearman rank-order correlations were significant for out-of -body experience (OBE) during the waking state as related to reading time and for OBE while falling asleep as related to time playing with imaginary playmates. Results indicate the importance of considering reported OBE state of consciousness in studying OBE correlates.