Mind transfer or identity transfer is a storytelling device seen in a variety of science fiction and supernatural fiction, in which one's consciousness is transferred into another body.^[1] A "bidirectional" mind transfer is variously called body swap, mind swap, or identity exchange.^[2]

The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction distinguishes the following mechanisms of identity transfer:

• Transfer of the personality to another body akin to mind uploading into computer^[1]
• Brain transplant^[1]
• Aliens taking over human bodies^[1]
• Shared identity, whereby the host body accepts another's mind^[1]

Body hopping is a trope wherein an entity inhabits a sequence of different bodies.^[3]

Early occurrences of mind transfer include The Year 4338: Petersburg Letters (Vladimir Odoyevsky, 1835), in which mind transfer is but a plot trick to travel into the future,^[4] and "Exchanging Their Souls" (Edward Page Mitchell, 1877), where it is used as a "wonderful cure" for a "Russian Prince Michalskovich".^[5]

See also

• Human possession in science fiction
• Reincarnation
• Spirit possession
• Walk-in (concept)

References