The Abduction Phenomenon: How to explain 'alien abduction' experiences from a psychological (e.g., sleep paralysis, false memory) and neuroscience perspective?

Hello, friend! Your question is super interesting, and many people are both curious and terrified about "alien abductions." Let's not talk about unsubstantiated UFO photos; instead, let's start with our own "brain," the most sophisticated instrument we have, and discuss how psychology and neuroscience view these bizarre experiences.

It's important to clarify: the following explanation is not to say that those who claim to have been abducted are "lying." To them, those experiences are 100% real, and the fear, confusion, and helplessness they feel are also very tangible. But "feeling real" and "actually happening" are two different things, and our brain, precisely, is a master at creating the sensation of reality.

1. Sleep Paralysis: The Immobile "Ghost Press"

You might have heard of "ghost press" (鬼压床), whose scientific name is Sleep Paralysis. This can be a key to explaining "alien abduction" experiences.

• What is it? Simply put, when you're just falling asleep or waking up, your brain is already awake, but your body hasn't "unlocked" yet. Your muscles are still in a state of "paralysis" from sleep (this is to prevent you from flailing around and hurting yourself in your dreams). As a result, you experience a terrifying feeling of "I'm awake, but I can't move."

• How does this relate to aliens? Think about typical abduction scenarios:

  • Inability to move: The victim lies in bed, feeling as if an invisible force is holding them down. Isn't this the core experience of sleep paralysis?
  • Chest pressure/suffocation: Many people feel a heavy pressure on their chest and difficulty breathing during sleep paralysis. This is easily interpreted as "aliens experimenting on me."
  • Seeing strange things: The brain, being in a state between wakefulness and sleep, is very prone to hallucinations. It desperately tries to find a reason for "why I can't move." Thus, a blurry shadow, a "Grey" by the bed, flashing lights... these hallucinations, consistent with our cultural image of "aliens," emerge. Your brain acts as its own director, staging a horror film.
  • Hearing strange sounds: Buzzing, footsteps, incomprehensible languages... these are also common auditory hallucinations during sleep paralysis.

So, the beginning of many "abduction" stories—being controlled by mysterious beings in the bedroom late at night—can be perfectly explained by sleep paralysis. This is a physiological phenomenon, not a supernatural event.

2. False Memories: Your Memory Isn't Reliable

We often think our memory is like a video recorder, faithfully recording everything. But psychological research shows that memory is more like a Wikipedia page that can be edited at any time, rather than a read-only Word document.

• How are memories "contaminated"?
  • The Power of Suggestion: After experiencing a vague, terrifying episode of sleep paralysis, you might feel very confused. At this point, if you watch movies or read books about alien abductions, or talk to an "expert" who believes in aliens, they might give you suggestions, such as "Did you see a bright light?" or "Did they do something to you?" To make that chaotic experience "make sense," your brain unconsciously "weaves" these suggestions into your memory.
  • "Filling in the Blanks": Memory hates blanks. For those vague, unclear fragments from sleep paralysis, the brain will extract material from cultural information you've encountered (like the image of aliens in movies) and fill them in, making the whole story coherent.
  • The More You Recall, The More Real It Becomes: Every time you recount your "abduction" experience to someone, your brain is actually "rewriting" and "solidifying" that memory. Over time, those implanted false details become as firmly entrenched as real feelings, and you yourself can no longer distinguish them.

So, an experience that might have initially been a simple case of "sleep paralysis," after being processed and embellished by false memories, can completely evolve into a detailed, logically consistent "alien abduction" story.

3. Neuroscience: The Brain's "Switches"

There are certain areas in our brain that, if abnormally activated, can also produce experiences similar to "being abducted."

• Temporal Lobe: This is a key area in the brain responsible for processing auditory information, memory, and emotions. Some studies have found that when certain people's temporal lobes are mildly stimulated with electrodes, they report some very strange experiences:

  • A "Sense of Presence" of someone or something nearby.
  • Feelings of "out-of-body experiences."
  • Seeing lights, hearing sounds.
  • Experiencing intense fear or awe.

  These descriptions highly align with abduction reports. Some people's brains might be naturally more prone to such "malfunctions" in the temporal lobe, especially when under stress or fatigued.

In Summary

So, from a scientific perspective, "alien abduction" is more like an "internal movie" self-directed and self-produced by our brain. It often unfolds like this:

Act One: An episode of sleep paralysis occurs, leaving you unable to move, accompanied by terrifying hallucinations (shadows, strange sounds).

Act Two: Afterward, you feel confused and scared by this experience. In your search for answers, your memory is "contaminated" by cultural alien stories, and through the mechanism of false memories, vague hallucinations are processed into concrete "Greys" and "inside a spaceship."

Act Three (possibly present): Certain neural activities in your brain (such as abnormal discharges in the temporal lobe) might make you more prone to these peculiar sensory experiences than others.

This is like a "perfect storm," where multiple psychological and physiological factors combine to create an "abduction" experience that, while not objectively factual, feels incredibly real subjectively.

Understanding this, the next time you hear such stories, you might not just dismiss them as tall tales, but rather marvel at the complexity and wonder of the human brain.