Consciousness in the Dying Brain - Science of Near-Death Experiences

Does our life really flash before our eyes when we die? Neuroscience may finally have clues to an answer.

Near-death experiences are a curious phenomenon shared by millions of people throughout history who nearly died but ultimately survived. Though the specifics differ, most of these folks recall experiencing a sense of serenity sweep over them when death was near. Frequently, they describe floating free of their bodies, or seeing their entire lives flash before their eyes, before returning to life. Imagine suddenly being outside your body, watching memorable events from your whole life flash by in a matter of seconds! That so many people report similar experiences suggests that our brains may all react in similar ways just before death.

However, investigating near-death experiences is extremely difficult because it's nearly impossible to anticipate when someone will have one. For generations, neuroscientists have puzzled over what happens within the brain during these experiences, and after death. Yet, an accidental finding may have inadvertently shed some light in this area.

A new study published in the journal Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience suggests that the brain may remain active and coordinated during and even after death, and may even be wired to choreograph the entire process of dying. After an 87-year-old patient developed epilepsy, Dr. Raul Vicente of the University of Tartu in Estonia, and colleagues, employed continuous electroencephalography (EEG) to detect and treat seizures. Unexpectedly, the patient suffered a heart attack and died as these recordings were being made. This unforeseen incident enabled scientists for the first time ever to record the brain activity of a dying human being.

Dr. Ajmal Zemmar, a neurosurgeon at the University of Louisville, USA, who organized the study said: “We measured 900 seconds of brain activity around the time of death and set a specific focus to investigate what happened in the 30 seconds before and after the heart stopped beating.” “Just before and after the heart stopped working, we saw changes in a specific band of neural oscillations, so-called gamma oscillations, but also in others such as delta, theta, alpha, and beta oscillations.”

Brain oscillations (also known as 'brain waves') are rhythmic patterns of brain activity that occur naturally in living human brains. Various oscillations, including gamma waves, are connected with high-cognitive processes such as concentration, dreaming, meditation, memory retrieval, information processing, and conscious perception, just like those associated with memory flashbacks. “Through generating oscillations involved in memory retrieval, the brain may be playing a last recall of important life events just before we die, similar to the ones reported in near-death experiences,” Zemmar speculated. “These findings challenge our understanding of when exactly life ends and generate important subsequent questions, such as those related to the timing of organ donation.”

While this is the first study of its sort to monitor live brain activity in humans as they die, similar alterations in gamma oscillations have been seen in rats housed in controlled conditions. This implies that the brain may organize and execute a biological response that is conserved across species following death. These observations, on the other hand, are based on a single case and come from the brain of a patient who had suffered damage, convulsions, and edema, making the results more difficult to interpret.

Nonetheless, Zemmar intends to explore further cases and sees these findings as a source of hope. “As a neurosurgeon, I deal with loss at times. It is indescribably difficult to deliver the news of death to distraught family members,” he said. “Something we may learn from this research is: Although our loved ones have their eyes closed and are ready to leave us to rest, their brains may be replaying some of the nicest moments they experienced in their lives.”

Link to original paper:

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#Brain #Death #NearDeath #Neuroscience

[KeepOnThinking]

Do you believe that your life flashes before your eyes when you die?

[RyanOShea]

The fact that we have data from a dying brain is so interesting to me! Very interesting video.

[menosalonegro]

So how can science explain NDErs recovered from terminal cancer or consciousness of patients travel outside hospital and saw what their relatives wear and can describe what were in their minds at the time they are in the bed dying

[marcobiagini]

I am a physicist and I will provide sound arguments that prove that consciousness is not generated by the brain and that the origin of our mental experiences is not physical (in my youtube channel you can find a video with more detailed explanations). This implies the existence in us of an unphysical element, which is usually called soul or spirit.
Physicalism/naturalism is based on the belief that consciousness is an emergent property of the brain, but it can be proved that this hypothesis is inconsistent with our scientific knowledge and implies logical contradictions. There are in fact 2 arguments that prove such hypothesis contains a logical fallacy.
1) All the alleged emergent properties are just simplified and approximate descriptions of underlying processes and arbitrary abstractions of the actual physical processes. An approximate description is only an abstraction, and no actual entity exists per se corresponding to that approximate description, simply because an actual entity is exactly what it is and not an approximation of itself; an approximate description is an idea that exists only in a conscious mind. This means that emergent properties are concepts that refer to something that has an inherent conceptual nature (abstract ideas).
2) An emergent property is defined as a property that is possessed by a set of elements that its individual components do not possess. The point is that every set of elements is inherently an arbitrary abstraction which implies the arbitrary choice of determining which elements are to be included in the set. Therefore, any property attributed to the set as a whole is inherently arbitrary because it depends on the arbitrary choice used to define the set. Arbitrariness is a precondition for the existence of any emergent property, and consciousness is a precondition for the existence of arbitrariness.
Both arguments 1 and 2 are sufficient to prove that every emergent property requires a consciousness from which to be conceived. Therefore, that conceiving consciousness cannot be the emergent property itself. Conclusion: consciousness cannot be an emergent property.

In other words, emergence is a purely conceptual idea that is applied onto matter for taxonomy purposes. On a fundamental material level, there is no brain, or heart, or any higher level groups or sets, but just fundamental particles interacting. Emergence itself is just a category imposed by a mind, so the mind can't itself be explained as an emergent phenomenon. 

If a concept refers to “something” whose existence presupposes the existence of arbitrariness, such “something” cannot exist independently of a conscious mind and can only exist as an idea in a conscious mind. For example consider the property of "beauty": beauty is intrisically subjective, abstract and implies arbitrariness; therefore, beauty cannot exist independently of a conscious mind. My arguments prove that emergent properties are of the same nature as beauty; they are intrinsically subjective and arbitrary, which is sufficient to prove that consciousness cannot be an emergent property because consciousness is the precondition for the existence of any emergent property.

The "brain" doesn't objectively and physically exist as a single entity. We create the concept of the brain by arbitrarily "separating" it from everything else; however, there is no objective criterion that allows us to identify what separates brain and non-brain. Obviously, consciousness cannot be a property of an abstraction, because an abstraction cannot conceive of itself. Any set of elements is an arbitrary abstraction because it implies the arbitrary choice of including some elements in the set and excluding others. Physically the brain is not a single entity and therefore every alleged property of the brain is an arbitrary concept, a subjective abstraction. This is sufficient to prove that the hypothesis that consciousness is a property of the brain is nonsensical because it contains an intrinsic logical contradiction; consciousness is a necessary precondition for the existence of arbitrariness, and therefore the existence of consciousness cannot be a consequence of all that implies arbitrariness.

An example of a concept that does not refer to something that is inherently subjective and presupposes the existence of arbitrariness, is the concept of “indivisible entity”.
Consciousness can exist only as the property of an indivisible entity, because only an indivisible entity does not imply any kind of arbitrariness; furthermore, this indivisible entity must interact with brain processes because we know that there is a correlation between brain processes and consciousness. This indivisible entity cannot be physical, since there is no physical entity with such properties; therefore this indivisible entity corresponds to what is traditionally called soul or spirit. Marco Biagini

[LifespanIO]

It might seem odd for the "Lifespan Extension Advocacy Foundation" to have an interest in science related to death, but having a thorough understanding of death and how it occurs could be very useful. Very good video.

[Danath]

Another fascinating video. The human brain is the most complex computer ever designed (by nature anyway). Every little thing we learn about it will advance us collectively as a species, so I hope more studies like this are possible in the future!

[stephenwirtz]

It seems that thousands of people in hospice would be willing to volunteer for experiments with electrodes and some of the newer (cost effective) apps on cellphones.

[MatAtMac]

Yes I totally believe it because I’ve experienced it myself. Thank you for this video

[ProfessorJayTee]

"Nicest moments in their lives." Or the worst possible traumas in their lives, or complete hallucinations of heaven or hell. These scientists still have NO flipping idea, yet are trying to sound like they do. Either that, or the research and reported results are fine, but the reporting on the research sucks.

[sampleowner]

Not all people who experience ndes experience clinical death. Some have them through meditation and some just have a scare. So this explanation doesn't work in those instances. It doesn't explain the out of body experience either. People maintain sight, hearing and logical thought process while their consciousness is separated from their brain. Some travel to other areas and witness events that happen hundreds or even thousands of miles away.

[trebor]

Ya tell this to someone that's been blind all their life

[sumthindifferentatxs]

I almost died and felt that. Hand to the Almighty.

[christinawilliams]

Romans 10:9 "If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord, ” and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved."

[jmaca]

What do I make of this finding??its bullshit

[lesterpace]

In the end its not what we did its what we didnt do.

[jojo-dgei]

Nothing new. This fact is mentioned in the Muslims holy book.
It talks about the human recall of his life and realization of where is he going and his reaction to that

[electricmanist]

Believe this and you qualify as a member of the 'flat earth society' !