This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies. Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: An analysis of more than 1,600 cases of purported reincarnation has revealed a striking correlation: The time between death and "rebirth" was shorter on average when records indicated that the prior person had died unexpectedly. Further, the correlation was strongest among families that did not believe in reincarnation, defying researchers' expectations.
"There had been an earlier published report suggesting a relationship between violent death and a shorter time between death and birth," said lead author Saeedeh Sadeghi, of the University of Virginia School of Medicine's Division of Perceptual Studies. "We wanted to test that relationship more systematically and see whether it could be explained by cultural or psychological influences. To our surprise, the relationship was still there when we tested it in a much larger number of cases, and the social and psychological factors we examined did not explain it away." For their analysis, the researchers examined 1,678 of the strongest reincarnation reports the Division of Perceptual Studies has collected over the decades.
In these cases, UVA researchers have been able to match purported recollections of a previous life—usually from a child—to the experiences of a specific deceased person. The researchers looked at variables including whether the death was natural, such as from illness or old age, or unnatural, such as from an accident, intentional violence or suicide. They also looked at age at death and how expected or unexpected the death was.
The scientists found that the median intermission between death and purported rebirth was 16 months. But there was a robust association between unexpected deaths and speedier intermissions, the researchers report. The most unexpected cases averaged a 40% decrease in turnaround time.
"This is the largest systematic study to date of temporal patterns in reported past-life memories. Individual cases can leave room for different interpretations, but patterns across many cases are much harder to explain as exaggeration, fantasy or fabrication," Sadeghi said. This temporal association persisted across multiple analyses as the researchers ruled out sources of potential bias such as the possibility of "memory contamination"—that children were repeating stories they had heard elsewhere—or that families within religions that embrace reincarnation could be using the possibility of rebirth as a coping mechanism for grief after the loss of a loved one.
One particularly surprising finding was that the association proved stronger among families that did not believe in reincarnation than in families that did. "The effect remained even after we accounted for several cultural and psychological factors, and it was actually stronger in families whose religions did not support reincarnation," said UVA researcher Philip Cozzolino. "These results do not support the idea that social beliefs are driving this pattern." In a new scientific paper outlining the findings, the research team notes that the results align with prior studies in this area.
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