![]() ![]() If so, then, seeing one’s life flashing before one’s eye might be our ultimate attempt – however desperate – to find an answer, necessarily fast-tracked because we are running out of time.Īnd whether or not we succeed or get the illusion that we did, this must result in absolute mental bliss. ![]() Maybe our most essential existential drive is to understand the meaning of our own existence. Or maybe it is a deeply rooted, genetically programmed reflex, keeping our mind “busy” as clearly the most distressing event of our entire life unfolds. Maybe it is a last resort, defence mechanism of the body trying to overcome imminent death. Maybe it is a completely artificial effect associated with the sudden surge of neural activity as the brain begins to shut down. I have come across a number of theories trying to explain why life would be flashing before someone’s eyes as the brain prepares to die. Some studies have also shown that this brain shutdown is accompanied by a release of serotonin, a chemical associated with arousal and feelings of happiness.īut what about us? If humans can be resuscitated after six, seven, eight or even ten minutes in extreme cases, it could theoretically be hours before their brain shuts down completely. ![]() And after 40 seconds, the great majority of neural activity has disappeared. In rats, experiments have established that after a few seconds, consciousness is lost. What’s more, the study did not answer my basic question: how long does it take after the cessation of oxygen supply to the brain for the essential neural activity to disappear? The study only reported on brain activity recorded over a period of about 15 minutes, including a few minutes after death. However, such coupling is not uncommon in the healthy brain – and does not necessarily mean that life is flashing before our eyes. One key limitation of studies looking into such experiences is that they focus too much of the nature of the experiences themselves and often overlook the context preceding them. Such an event has been associated with out-of-body experiences, a sense profound bliss, a calling, a seeing of a light shining above, but also profound bursts of anxiety or complete emptiness and silence. Could there be anything of my beloved brother’s mind left to hear my voice and generate thoughts, five hours after he had passed away? Some scientific experimentsĮxperiments have been conducted in an attempt to better understand reports from people who have had a near death experience. Then, deterioration reaches a point of no return and core consciousness – our ability to feel that we are here and now, and to recognise that thoughts we have are own own – is lost. Yet, in the last moment I was given to spend with his lifeless body in a hospital room, I felt the urge to speak to him.Īnd I did, despite 25 years of studying the human brain and knowing perfectly well that about six minutes after the heart stops, and the blood supply to the brain is interrupted, the brain essentially dies. No matter how much I refused to believe it on that day, and during the several months that followed, my brother’s extraordinarily bright and creative mind had gone, vaporised, only to remain palpable in the artworks he left behind. Only he was not breathing anymore and he was cold to the touch. An hour later, I found him perfectly still and beautiful, his head slightly turned to the side as if he was in a deep state of sleep. But when I landed, I was told my brother had passed away four hours ago. I set off to Marseille, France, having been summoned to Avignon by my mother because my brother was in a critical state, a few days after being suddenly diagnosed with terminal lung cancer. On 14 June 2021, I was violently reminded of these questions. Words I remember to this day were the last of Georges Danton on 5 April 1794, who allegedly said to his executioner: “Show my head to the people, it is worth seeing.” Years later, having become a cognitive neuroscientist, I started wondering to what extent a brain suddenly separated from the body could still perceive its environment and perhaps think.ĭanton wanted his head to be shown, but could he see or hear the people? Was he conscious, even for a brief moment? How did his brain shut down?
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