Your sense of self in the here and now can seem unquestionable, yet neuroscientists are finding they can manipulate it in mysterious and sometimes terrifying ways. Out-of-body experiences allow you to inhabit another body in another location, hypnotic delusions can change your entire life story with a single suggestion, and various “Bloody Mary” illusions, can cause people to see an alien figure staring back at them from the mirror. By demonstrating the fragility of your identity, Simon Frantz, BBC.com Future editor, will show the person you think of as being “you” is the brain’s greatest delusion.

Further reading for attendees
Hypnosis: The day my mind was 'possessed' ow.ly/Kpdqp
Your clever body: Thinking from head to toe ow.ly/Kpdxa
The Halloween trick that conjures ghosts of the mind ow.ly/KpdCw
Why selfies sometimes look weird to their subjects ow.ly/KpdFI

Video links
Rubber hand illusion ow.ly/Kpdeu
Bloody Mary illusion ow.ly/KpdfQ