2 Things You Need To Know About 'Past-Life Memories'

Are 'past-life memories' just a hoax, or could there be a kernel of truth inside them? Here's what psychological research says on the matter.

By Mark Travers, Ph.D. | December 16, 2024

Whether you're a skeptic or a believer, past-life memories have fascinated researchers, psychologists, spiritual thinkers and people all over the world for decades.

"Past Life Experiences can be defined as reported experiences of oneself as a particular person (other than one's current life identity) in a previous time or life. This spontaneous overlay of identity may be recurrent and persistent for children between the ages of 24 to 60 months, but does not deny their current identity," early research on the topic suggests.

Here are two research-backed insights about past-life recollections and the people who experience them.

1. Past Life Recollections Follow A Pattern

A 2021 study published in Explore suggests that past life experiences have been reported across various parts of the world, and a pattern has emerged in these cross-cultural narratives.

To begin with, children often begin recalling past life memories around the age of 2 and gradually stop discussing them by about 9, when they're well into their schooling years. Many children describe events, names, families or places from their alleged past life.

Many also recall violent or unnatural deaths in their previous life, and about 20% participants mention an "intermission" period between lives, with an average gap of 16 months between a previous death and rebirth.

Interestingly, these reports also mention phobias or preferences that are associated with the past life's mode of death or lifestyle. For instance, children who remember a previous death by drowning may hold a fear of swimming in the present day.

Participants also suggest that their current birthmarks or birth defects correspond to wounds from a previous life. Children can also display skills or behaviors they haven't been taught, such as xenoglossy (speaking a language they've never learned).

Research on near-death experiences, published in the Journal of Near-Death Studies, also suggests that survivors sometimes experience past-life memories, similar to those that young children in past-life recollection studies recall.

In one such report, Anita Moorjani, who was in a coma due to Lymphoma, recalls her experience:

"I was drifting in and out of consciousness and could feel my spirit actually leaving my body. Every time I drifted into the 'other side,' I was shown more and more scenes. There was one which showed my brother on a plane, having heard the news I was dying, coming to see me. This was verified to me as, when I started to come round, my brother was there, having just got off a plane," Moorjani describes.

"I then saw a glimpse of my brother and me and somehow seemed to understand it was a previous life, where I was much older than he and was like a mother to him. In this life, he is older than I. This life I was now perceiving with my brother seemed to take place in an underdeveloped rural setting, in a time and location I couldn't identify," she adds.

Another report, from Mr. David Moquin, who was in a coma and hospitalized with double pneumonia, describes multiple past lives:

"During that time, I experienced at least two events that felt like past lifetimes. The one that has haunted me for the past 24 years was that of burning to death in an airplane crash. Many years later a psychic told me that in my last lifetime I died landing a fighter plane on an odd single digit day in November 1944. I was born December 21, 1944," Moquin explains.

"My daughter, hearing the recording of the reading, googled and found that Captain Fryer was the only pilot that died on an odd single digit day that November, and that he died trying to land his burning P-51 Mustang. My favorite plane has always been the P-51. The model sits on my desk. My daughter asked me questions and I seemed to know the names of my wing commander, squadron commander, mother and father," he adds.

2. Individuals With Past-Life Memories Share Intriguing Characteristics

"Although significant evidence has been produced by alleged Past Life Memory studies, there is much controversy about the possible explanations of these memories: children's fantasies, fraud, socio-psychological needs of reincarnationist families, inherited memory, extrasensory perception, cryptomnesia, paramnesia or possession," the researchers of the Explore study write.

Research published in Psychology and Psychotherapy examined the psychological characteristics of children reporting past-life memories and found that they scored higher on dimensions of daydreaming, attention-seeking and dissociation than children without such memories, but not on suggestibility. The dissociation they experienced was also not at a clinically concerning level.

Additionally, research published in the Journal of Scientific Exploration, examining the alleged past-life memories of 42 adults, found that despite lingering memories, most individuals lead normal, happy, productive and healthy lives, with these memories having a generally positive or neutral impact. For instance, for about half of these participants, their past-life memories reinforced beliefs in reincarnation and provided a sense of connection with others.

However, some experienced difficulties, such as excessive attention from people wanting to hear their stories or teasing during childhood. They also report distress from battling phobias seemingly tied to these past lives. Most participants also prefer their current lives to their previous ones.

Interestingly, believing in reincarnation and an afterlife can contribute to lowering anxiety around death.

"As a child I lost a great grandparent, both grandparents and a step grandparent. It lessened the blow as I started to understand that they will be back. They may suffer in the end, but there may be a new beginning for them," a 26-year old participant from a past-life study published this November explains.

Whether past-life memories are echoes of reincarnation, the workings of an imaginative mind or something in between, they can reshape our beliefs and the way we choose to live our lives. These glimpses into the past are as intriguing as they are puzzling, raising profound questions about the nature of memory, consciousness and human existence.

Do you experience anxiety about death or what comes after? Take this test to learn more: Death Anxiety Scale

A similar version of this article can also be found on Forbes.com, here.