What Happens To Our Consciousness After We Die – Neuroscientists have recorded brain activity in dying humans and discovered rhythmic brainwave patterns during death similar to those that occur when dreaming, remembering memories, and meditating. The study, now published in Frontiers, provides new insight into the organizational role of the brain at death and suggests an explanation for the vivid memories of near-death experiences.
Imagine liberating your entire life in an instant Like a bolt of lightning, you leave your body to see memorable moments Called ‘live memory’, this process can resemble a near-death experience What happens in the brain during these experiences and after death is a question that has puzzled neuroscientists for centuries. However, new research results have been published
What Happens To Our Consciousness After We Die
This suggests that your brain may have been programmed to remain active and coordinated during and after the death transition and to organize the entire ordeal.
Consciousness After Death
When an 87-year-old patient developed epilepsy, Dr. Raul Vicente of the University of Tartu in Estonia and his colleagues used continuous electroencephalography (EEG) to diagnose the disorder and treat the patient. The patient died of cardiac arrest during this recording. This unexpected phenomenon allowed scientists to record brain activity in dying humans for the first time.
“We measured brain activity for 900 seconds at death and focused on investigating what happened in the 30 seconds before the heart stopped,” said Dr. Ajmal Zemar, a neurosurgeon at the University of Louisville, USA. said. who designed the study
Before and after the heart stopped functioning, changes in certain bands of neural oscillations, the so-called gamma oscillations, and other areas such as delta, theta, alpha, and beta oscillations were observed.
Brain oscillations (commonly known as “brain waves”) are patterns of rhythmic brain activity normally present in the living human brain. Various vibrations, including gamma rays, are involved in higher cognitive functions such as concentration, dreaming, meditation, memory retrieval, information processing, and conscious perceptions associated with memory flashbacks.
Life After Death
“Through the vibrations associated with memory recall, the brain can replay last memories of the precise events of death, such as near-death experiences,” Zemahl speculates. These findings challenge our understanding of when life ends and raise further important questions, such as those related to the timing of organ donation.
Although this study is the first of its kind to measure live brain activity during the death process in humans, similar changes in gamma oscillations have been previously observed in mice housed in controlled environments. . This means that the brain may orchestrate and carry out biological responses to death that may be conserved across species.
However, these measurements are based on a single case and include trauma, seizures, and swelling from the patient’s brain, which complicates the interpretation of the data. Nonetheless, Mr. Zemar plans to investigate more cases and sees these results as a source of hope.
“As a neurosurgeon, I face loss from time to time. ‘It’s impossible to pass the news on to a distraught family member,'” he said.
What Happens When You Die?
What we can learn from this study is: Even if our loved ones have their eyes closed and trying to put us to rest, their brains can still replay some of the most beautiful moments they’ve had in their lives.
Publication Guidelines: Open access and sharing of research is part of Frontiers’ mission Unless stated otherwise, articles posted to Frontiers News may be republished as long as they contain a link to the original research. can. Selling Articles Is Banned is his 2017 Netflix film in which Robert Redford played a scientist who proves the afterlife is real. “When the physical body dies, part of our consciousness leaves us and travels to a new dimension,” the scientist explained, and the machine proved what another character says. . “
This idea is not far from the actual theory called quantum consciousness put forward by many, from physicist Roger Penrose to physician Deepak Chopra. Some versions hold that the death of the physical body is not the end of the existence of consciousness, because our mind is not strictly a product of the brain and consciousness exists separately from matter. Since it is the subject of my next book, Heaven on Earth: The Scientific Quest for Afterlife, Immortality, and Utopia (Henry Holt, 2018), the film is an opportunity for me to explore science and such ideas. It raises many issues that we are all aware of. Yoshito
First, there is the idea that our identity exists in memory and that it should be permanently recorded in the brain. So if they can be copied and pasted into a computer, or duplicated and placed in a resurrected body or soul, then we are identities. Restored But that’s not how memory works Memories aren’t like a DVR that lets you replay the past on a screen in your mind. Memory is a constantly evolving and fluid process that relies on neurons in the brain. Indeed, if you go to sleep and wake up the next morning, or come back a few hours after being anesthetized for surgery, your memory will return, just like after the so-called deep hypothermia or hypothermia. In this method, the patient’s brain is cooled to 50 degrees Fahrenheit, stopping electrical activity in neurons, long-term memories that are permanently stored. But that doesn’t happen when the brain dies This is why you need to start CPR quickly after a heart attack or drowning. When the brain is deprived of oxygen-rich blood, the neurons that store memories die.
Death: How Long Are We Conscious For And Does Life Really Flash Before Our Eyes?
Second, uploading the brain’s connectome (an image of neural connections) to a computer (suggested by some scientists) or reviving the body in the afterlife (many religions believe). There is an idea to wake up with Like a laboratory or a long sleep in heaven But you’re not a replica of your memory, mind and soul It’s a copy of you, no different from a twin. No twin looks at his brother and thinks, “I’m over there.” Duplication or resurrection cannot accelerate you to another dimension of existence
Third, your unique identity is not just an intact memory. This is also your personal opinion Neuroscientist Kenneth Hayworth, senior scientist at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and president of the Brain Preservation Foundation, divides entities into his MEMself and his POVself. He believes that POV itself will awaken if his complete MEM itself is transferred to a computer (or perhaps resurrected in Heaven). I disagree. If this had been done without the person’s death, there would have been two memories of her from each perspective, each looking at the world through its own eyes. At that moment, everyone takes a different path in life and records different memories based on different experiences. “You” don’t suddenly have two POVs of him If you die, there is no known mechanism by which your POV is transferred from your brain to the computer (or resurrected body). POV relies entirely on the continuity of the self from one moment to the next, even if that continuity is broken by sleep or anesthesia. Death is a permanent break in continuity, and your personal perspective cannot be transferred from your brain to another medium, here or next.
If this seems contradictory, it is the opposite. Our awareness of mortal death is growing. Because it means that every moment, every day, every relationship counts. Deep connection with the world and other sentient beings brings meaning and purpose.Geographically and chronologically, we are each unique in the world and in history.Our genomes and connectomes replicate. Because we cannot, we are individuals who are aware of our mortal destiny and self-aware of its implications. What is the appeal? Life is not a temporary stage before the next big show. It is our personal proscenium in the cosmic drama here and now. “
The original title of this article was “Who Are You?” It was published under the title Scientific American 317, 1, 73 (July 2017).
Sleeping While Awake
Michael Shermer is the publisher of Sketic Magazine (www.sketic.com) and president of Chapman University. His next book is Earth in Heaven. Follow him on Twitter @michaelshermer
Explore his digital archives since 1845, including essays by over 150 Nobel laureates discovering world-changing science. When the heart stops, brain activity can spike, and this is often associated with intense spiritual or religious experiences. adobe stock
Have you or someone you know had a near-death experience (NDE)? These events are estimated to occur in about 10-20 percent
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