Life, Ebbing and Flowing

"Given that cross-coupling between alpha and gamma activity is involved in cognitive processes and memory recall  in healthy subjects, it is intriguing to speculate that such activity could support a 'last recall of life' that may take place in the near-death state."

International Neuroscientist Study Team

 

"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."

"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."

"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."

"As a neurosurgeon, I deal with loss at times. It is indescribably difficult to deliver the news of death to distraught family members."

"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."

Dr Ajmal Zemmar, neurosurgeon, University of Louisville, US

Image: Okrasiuk/Shutterstock.com

The brain activity of an 87-year-old patient was inadvertently recorded in hospital as the elderly man died. Subsequent analysis of electroencephalography recordings of the man's brain in the 30-second period before and following the patient's heart stopping to beat suggested to the investigating scientists that interaction had taken place between different brain waves; that the process continues once blood stops flowing in the brain.

This observation, new to bioscience, may indicate that life-scenes flash before the eyes of an individual in the instant prior to death. A finding that the international team of scientists has reported. Should this prove to be a universal phenomenon and not simply an observation of one individual case, it seems that the potential for 'recall of life' may be a common experience for those facing and moving into death. 

The study's observations and subsequent theories were published in the journal Frontiers in Ageing Neuroscience. Despite which the researchers note that their assessment and the conclusions brought away from the study relates to one single observable incident recorded and studied for its implications. That the phenomenon cannot yet be considered to be  an end-of-life occurrence common to all individuals.

 

In the instance of the 87-year-old Canadian man with epilepsy, a brain scan was ordered and simultaneously the man had a heart attack and died. He was not immediately disconnected from the EEG machine, thus the accidental recording was made, and came under investigation by the researchers. This happenstance occurrence, tragic as it was for the man and his family, gave neuroscientists the opportunity to study the resulting recording.