Abstract
<p>Cases of the Reincarnation Type (CORT) involve individuals—typically young children—who report memories they claim are from previous lives. One recurring observation is the apparent “intermission time” between the death of the putatively identified previous person and the child’s birth. However, systematic large-scale analyses of related factors remain limited. The present study analyzed 1,678 cases with an ostensibly identified past person, to test whether intermission time correlates with death characteristics and whether any observed association persists after accounting for variables likely to facilitate bias. Death unexpectedness and naturalness were both significantly associated with intermission time (both p &lt; .001), with median intervals decreasing from approximately 21 months at the lowest level of death unexpectedness to 12 months at the highest level—representing about a 40–45% reduction. The unexpectedness of death remained the strongest unique predictor in multiple regression. The association persisted across five moderation analyses examining verification quality, memory contamination, family association, social status motivation, and reincarnation belief. Notably, the effect was stronger among families without reincarnation beliefs, opposite to what a cultural construction hypothesis would predict. Although the data are observational and subject to potential selection biases, our findings replicate and extend prior reports, suggesting that temporal patterns in CORT cases may reflect a systematic phenomenon not readily accounted for by existing psychosocial frameworks. Further research using contemporary cases is needed to clarify underlying mechanisms and theoretical implications.</p>