Posted on 08/13/2013 10:32:12 AM PDT by Blue Turtle
A surge of electrical activity in the brain could be responsible for the vivid experiences described by near-death survivors, scientists report. A study carried out on dying rats found high levels of brainwaves at the point of the animals' demise. US researchers said that in humans this could give rise to a heightened state of consciousness
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.co.uk ...
Those guys in the Electric Chair must have had some doozies.
I bow before the Scientific Method! Who needs anything like proof? A hypothesis is good enough.
So libtards must have these "experiences" with regularity...
And it could be touching the afterlife. The important question to ask is “which would you prefer that it is?”
The article also states that this does not explain how people who claim to have these experiences are able to recall events that given their incapacitation they should not have known about...( frequently details about their resuscitation)
If you want to generate a discussion, you might find it helpful to bring more info into the excerpt. It is a 300 word limit not to exceed half the original article:
For example include the following:
To find out more, scientists at the University of Michigan monitored nine rats as they were dying.
In the 30-second period after the animal’s hearts stopped beating, they measured a sharp increase in high-frequency brainwaves called gamma oscillations.
These pulses are one of the neuronal features that are thought to underpin consciousness in humans, especially when they help to “link” information from different parts of the brain.
In the rats, these electrical pulses were found at even higher levels just after the cardiac arrest than when animals were awake and well.
Dr Borjigin said it was feasible that the same thing would happen in the human brain, and that an elevated level of brain activity and consciousness could give rise to near-death visions.
“This can give us a framework to begin to explain these. The fact they see light perhaps indicates the visual cortex in the brain is highly activated - and we have evidence to suggest this might be the case, because we have seen increased gamma in area of the brain that is right on top of the visual cortex,” she said.
“We have seen increased coupling between the lower-frequency waves and the gamma that has been shown to be a feature of visual awareness and visual sensation.”
It is a far-fetched theory with no basis for applying it to humans.
If true those guys in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest would be lining-up for their daily trip to Heaven...
‘prefer’? The only thing that matters is what does happen. Wanting something to happen doesn’t make it so.
Near death experiences deal with the soul not the body
I have read quite a bit about near death experiences (NDE’s) over the years and I also firmly believe in a spiritual existence after physical death. This isn’t the first study that has identified increased electrical activity of the brain at the time of death. I don’t think that the spiritual aspects of the phenomenon are at odds with the electrical. It almost makes sense that as the spirit leaves the body, there would be an electrical anomaly in the brain. Similarly, I don’t see any inherent inconsistencies between NDE’s and Christianity.
Another way to look at it would be proof that the Brain has consciousness after death opening a door for Near Death Experiences if not the departing soul.
Agree with your comments, BUT—sure hope there are NO rats in Heaven:)!
Dying in one's sleep has much to recommend it. Falling off a mountain during a blizzard and bleeding out? Not so much.
I would skip the experience, given a choice. ;)
/johnny
could be responsible
I bow before the Scientific Method! Who needs anything like proof? A hypothesis is good enough.
<><><><
You have it backwards. That is what we want scientists to say, for the simple reason that they don’t have proof. The evidence suggests it, hence, could be is only as far as the scientist can go.
You’d excoriate this scientist if he came out and said my experiment proves categorically that ....
Of course now you beat them up for saying ‘could be’.
Suggests it how????
Rats have souls?
TV. By the time you’re 18 you’ve probably seen 2 dozen dramatized resuscitation on TV and in movies, and they all follow a pretty standard pattern, which bears some similarities to reality. Very easy for the brain to just whip up its own version and have it come close to real.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.