A paper published by University of Michigan researchers in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) describes how spikes in brain activity associated with consciousness were found in patients who seemed close to death.
NDE survivors often recall seeing unusual lights, floating outside their body, or meeting deceased loved ones.
The similarities between these stories and the cultures in which they are told suggest a possible biological mechanism.
In a new study, scientists have obtained detailed information about how the human brain behaves during sleep. “This is the first time such results have been documented in detail,” said Jimo Borjigin, whose team has been studying how the human mind works for years.
The team studied the records of four patients who died of cardiac arrest while being monitored for EEG changes.
All four were placed in a coma, taken off life support, after it was determined they would not be able to recover from their injuries.
Of the four patients, two—a 24-year-old woman and a 77-year-old woman—experienced an increase in heart rate as well as spikes in brain wave activity consistent with wakefulness.
Previous studies, including one that looked at an 87-year-old man who died in a fall, have also found bursts of gamma waves at the time of death.
The University of Michigan article takes a closer look at which parts of the brain were illuminated and finds activity in the “posterior cortical hot zone,” the temporal, parietal, and occipital lobes, all associated with changes in consciousness.
It should also be noted that monitoring of cardiac and brain activity was carried out in the last hours of each patient’s life, which increases the reliability of each analysis.
It remains unclear why the brains of these four patients showed signs of “hidden consciousness” while others did not, although Borjigin suggested that past seizures could be one factor.
The authors suggest that the small sample size precludes broad inferences about patients who died before their visions could be confirmed.
Borzhigin hopes that by studying the population of other cities and countries, he will be able to collect information about more people, reports TASS .
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