Flash of memories near death

[Sriram]

Hi everyone,

Here is an interesting article about brainwaves just before death....

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-60495730

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Life may actually flash before your eyes on death - new study

A team of scientists set out to measure the brainwaves of an 87-year-old patient who had developed epilepsy. But during the neurological recording, he suffered a fatal heart attack - offering an unexpected recording of a dying brain.

It revealed that in the 30 seconds before and after, the man's brainwaves followed the same patterns as dreaming or recalling memories.

Brain activity of this sort could suggest that a final "recall of life" may occur in a person's last moments, the team wrote in their study, published in Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience on Tuesday.

Dr Zemmar, now a neurosurgeon at the University of Louisville, said in the 30 seconds before the patient's heart stopped supplying blood to the brain, his brainwaves followed the same patterns as when we carry out high-cognitive demanding tasks, like concentrating, dreaming or recalling memories.

It continued 30 seconds after the patient's heart stopped beating - the point at which a patient is typically declared dead.

They now hope the publication of this one human case may open the door to other studies on the final moments of life.

"I think there's something mystical and spiritual about this whole near-death experience," Dr Zemmar said. "And findings like this - it's a moment that scientists lives for."

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Cheers.

Sriram

[Aruntraveller]

Before you start getting too excited, a slightly more nuanced report on this issue:

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2022/feb/23/does-life-flash-before-your-eyes-brain-scan-of-dying-man-suggests-its-possible?

"Dr Steve Taylor, a psychologist at Leeds Beckett University, agreed. “I don’t think we can assume this is a representative example of how the human brain behaves at the point of death,” he said, adding it was also a stretch to link an increase in gamma brain waves with flashbacks before death.

“The life review can actually occur when people are not physiologically close to death – there are many cases of life reviews during falls, for instance,” he said."

[jeremyp]

It continued 30 seconds after the patient's heart stopped beating - the point at which a patient is typically declared dead.

Nope. I think these days, it's when neurological activity ceases, isn't it?

[Enki]

Hi everyone,

Here is an interesting article about brainwaves just before death....

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-60495730

***********

Life may actually flash before your eyes on death - new study

A team of scientists set out to measure the brainwaves of an 87-year-old patient who had developed epilepsy. But during the neurological recording, he suffered a fatal heart attack - offering an unexpected recording of a dying brain.

It revealed that in the 30 seconds before and after, the man's brainwaves followed the same patterns as dreaming or recalling memories.

Brain activity of this sort could suggest that a final "recall of life" may occur in a person's last moments, the team wrote in their study, published in Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience on Tuesday.

Dr Zemmar, now a neurosurgeon at the University of Louisville, said in the 30 seconds before the patient's heart stopped supplying blood to the brain, his brainwaves followed the same patterns as when we carry out high-cognitive demanding tasks, like concentrating, dreaming or recalling memories.

It continued 30 seconds after the patient's heart stopped beating - the point at which a patient is typically declared dead.

They now hope the publication of this one human case may open the door to other studies on the final moments of life.

"I think there's something mystical and spiritual about this whole near-death experience," Dr Zemmar said. "And findings like this - it's a moment that scientists lives for."

***********

Cheers.

Sriram

I saw this and immediately thought about the 2013 experiments with rats:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-23672150

which the article you have referenced also mentioned. It seems that there is at least some evidence that humans, at the point of death(whilst their brains are still active), can experience similar bursts of activity to rats, a phenomenon which might well correlate with well documented NDE experiences.

Far from giving credence to your idea of a 'soul' that lives on in some way, it supports the idea of increased neurological activity when the brain is under great stress.