Mysterious tunnels of light, epiphanies, and lucid dreams in the background are what people describe when they return from near-death experiences (NDEs). Even if they are culturally opposite people, stories of mystical experiences appear in NDE accounts, leading researchers to believe that this is a pattern in brain processes at the time of death that only those who survived can relate to. Could it be that by finding the brain region where such visions are generated, we will find consciousness? This is what new research says.
Since 2013, neurology and psychology researcher Jimo Borjigin has been looking for flashes of brain activity before death. He has gradually been finding biological flickers in near-death experiences and believes that monitoring changes in brain activity could tell us where consciousness is lodged in the human body.
Her findings have led her to investigate “dying patients before and after clinical withdrawal of ventilatory support” in cases where medically there was no alternative. In her most recent study published in the scientific journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Science (PNAS), Borjigin says she found evidence of spikes in brain activity associated with consciousness in at least two patients.
Flickers of Brain Activity Before Death
The research team led by Borjigin reviewed the records of four patients who died of cardiac arrest and cerebral hemorrhage, while doctors continued to monitor their activity using electroencephalograms (EEGs). Strangely, the charts showed a burst of gamma waves in two of the cases.
Gamma waves are the fastest frequency of all the brain waves at which our brains work, and for this reason, neuroscientists had to verify that they were not the side effects of a seizure, as confirmed by a specialist. By ruling out seizures as a possible source of gamma waves, Borjigin, and his team believe they have found a possible marker of consciousness. “This is perhaps the first study to actually show second-by-second how the brain dies,” said the lead author.
Where Does Consciousness Light Up?
The next step was to analyze the brain regions that lit up at the time of death. They found that gamma wave activity was mainly concentrated in the “posterior cortical hot zone,” which is composed of the temporal, parietal, and occipital lobes, and which has been associated with changes in consciousness.
“If this part of the brain lights up, that means the patient is seeing something, can hear something, and can feel sensations outside the body,” Borjigin explains. High activity in this region has been observed in people experiencing vivid dreams, visual hallucinations, and out-of-body experiences. This could explain why people returning from near-death experiences tell mystical stories of paranormal experiences.
The study lays the groundwork for further research into the mechanism of human consciousness, however, not everyone is convinced that out-of-body experiences are connected to the transient brush with death, but could be a neurological response to the stress of cardiac events.
Story written in Spanish by Alejandra Martínez in Ecoosfera
