Scientists trigger 'out-of-body' experience using heartbeats She hopes the findings, published in the journal Psychological Science, may now be used to help people with psychological problems involving distorted self-perception such as anorexia nervosa and body dysmorphic disorder. She is now working on a study of how the self perception of "yo-yo" dieters changes as they gain and lose weight. Dr Aspell said: "Patients with anorexia, for example, have a disconnection from their own body. They look in the mirror and think they are larger than they actually are. This may be because their brain does not update its representation of the body after losing weight, and the patient is therefore stuck with a perception of a larger self that is out of date. This experiment could be adapted to help people 'reconnect' with their current physical appearance. It could help them realise what the 'real me' actually looks like. For the experiment, the volunteers were made to wear head cameras which allowed them to view a live image of themselves from behind. They were also fitted with a monitor which recorded their heartbeat. This was linked to the live video image which was made to flash in either in synch or out of synch with their own heartbeat. After six minutes of watching the image of themselves, the participants were blindfolded and moved backwards. They were then asked to move to where they thought they had been standing. The researchers found that the volunteers who had been looking at an image of themselves which flashed in synch with their own heartbeat moved closer to where the image was than to where they had actually been standing. Volunteers also answered questions after the experiment which the scientists claim showed they identified more with their virtual outline than their own body. Previous experiments have produced similar findings. In 2011, scientisis in America said they had "immersed" volunteers into the body of an avatar - a computer generated version of themselves. Volunteers were asked to wear virtual reality goggles and then stand in front of a camera. The subjects saw the cameras view of their back on screens in the goggles, computer enhanced to create a 3D virtual version or avatar. When their back was stroked with a pen so was the virtual avatar in front of them, making them think that the virtual body was in fact their own. In this way people became confused about their real and the virtual self - even though they were effectively two metres apart from each other.