To avoid the influence of spontaneous polarization, thermally stimulated current (TSC) measurements of BaTiO 3 -based multilayer ceramic capacitors with Ni internal electrodes were performed within the paraelectric phase. We observed two TSC peaks and inferred that one of them was related to the resistance degradation according to the electromigration of oxygen vacancies. Further, we proposed that the two peaks resulted from the relaxation phenomenon of the oxygen vacancies, which migrated under dc electrical field stresses, in the grains and over the grain boundaries.