title: Autoscopic phenomena: case report and review of literature.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Autoscopic phenomena are psychic illusory visual experiences consisting of the perception of the image of one's own body or face within space, either from an internal point of view, as in a mirror or from an external point of view. Descriptions based on phenomenological criteria distinguish six types of autoscopic experiences: autoscopic hallucination, he-autoscopy or heautoscopic proper, feeling of a presence, out of body experience, negative and inner forms of autoscopy.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We report a case of a patient with he-autoscopic seizures. EEG recordings during the autoscopic experience showed a right parietal epileptic focus. This finding confirms the involvement of the temporo-parietal junction in the abnormal body perception during autoscopic phenomena. We discuss and review previous literature on the topic, as different localization of cortical areas are reported suggesting that out of body experience is generated in the right hemisphere while he-autoscopy involves left hemisphere structures.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neuroscience and Imaging, Aging Research Centre, Ce.S.I., G. d'Annunzio University Foundation G, d'Annunzio University, Chieti, Italy. f.anzellotti@unich.it
authors.forename: Francesca
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Anzellotti
authors.forename: Valeria
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Onofrj
authors.forename: Valerio
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Maruotti
authors.forename: Leopoldo
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Ricciardi
authors.forename: Raffaella
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Franciotti
authors.forename: Laura
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Bonanni
authors.forename: Astrid
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Thomas
authors.forename: Marco
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Onofrj
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001828:Body Image; D003863:Depression / Q000150:complications; D004292:Dominance, Cerebral / Q000502:physiology; D004569:Electroencephalography; D004827:Epilepsy / Q000150:complications / Q000503:physiopathology*; D005260:Female; D006212:Hallucinations / Q000150:complications / Q000503:physiopathology*; D006801:Humans; D010296:Parietal Lobe / Q000503:physiopathology*; D013405:Suicide / Q000523:psychology