out-of-body experience
October 31st 2011 20:49
It's just your brain playing tricks on you
Scientists say it's your mind's way of trying to understand death
Some report feeling as if they are hovering above their own bodies, while others find themselves drawn towards a blinding light.
They say that common spooky scenarios, such as floating above a hospital bed or walking towards the light at the end of a tunnel, can be explained by the brain trying to make sense of the process of death.
Scientists from the universities of Edinburgh and Cambridge reviewed studies into changes in the brain that cause certain sensations associated with near-death experiences.
Researcher Caroline Watt said one common vision – that of people seeing a bright light which seems to be drawing them into the afterlife – is probably produced by the death of the cells we use to process the light picked up by our eyes and turn it into pictures.
‘The most parsimonious explanation is not that you are travelling to some spiritual realm – it is simply your brain trying to make sense of the unusual experiences you are having,’ Dr Watt said. Feelings of being out of the body can also be explained by the brain’s behaviour, the journal Trends in Cognitive Sciences reports.
‘The scientific evidence suggests that all aspects of the near-death experience have a biological basis.’
In another example, the hormone noradrenaline, which is released when we suffer from stress and injuries, could be behind the feelings of love and peace many experience when they seem to be approaching death.
However, other scientists say we should not be so quick to dismiss people’s accounts.
Sam Parnia, of the University of Southampton, stressed that being able to trace something back to the brain does not mean it is not real.
Dr Parnia, who is close to completing a three-year study of hospital patients’ recollections of their near-death experiences, said: ‘Every experience, whether near-death or otherwise – such as depression, happiness and love – is mediated by the brain.
‘In fact, many experiences share the same brain regions, and so it is not unusual to be able to reproduce them.
‘Discovering those areas, or reproducing them, doesn’t imply the experience is not real.
‘We wouldn’t say love, happiness and depression are not real.
‘Furthermore, many people accurately report “seeing” events taking place at a time when the brain doesn’t function, such as during cardiac arrest.
‘These cannot be explained by brain changes, since the brain had shut down and “flatlined”.
‘While seeming real to those who experience them, near-death experiences provide a glimpse of what it is like to die for the rest of us.’
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