This paper compares the phenomenon of OBE, UFO abductions, and NDEs. Gackenbach observed the similarity of the phenomena and related them to REM dreaming and lucid dreaming. She argues that these phenomena are misattributions reality. Basically, the hypothesis suggests that abductees have a lucid dream of abduction, but don’t realize they’re in a lucid dream, so they conclude abduction is real.
This hypothesis is similar to a materialist interpretation of dreams that they’re just the body processing things and are unreal or illusory. It does not deny the lived and felt experience as truly happening, but it suggests that it is illusory or not real.
The misattribution hypothesis is an interesting case of doubleness or clashing worldviews. One the one hand, many of the proponents of this hypothesis assume that equating ET/NHI contact with dreams implies that it is unreal or illusory. The equation of dreams and unreality is culturally limited to post-industrial Western cultures and their colonies. Most cultures on Earth honor dreams as real, albeit experiences that require discernment and interpretation.