Brain Activity Shows Basis of Near-Death Light

Aug 13, 2013 10:00 AM ET // by AFP

There may be a scientific explanation for the vivid near-death experiences, such as seeing a shining light that some people report after surviving a heart attack, US scientists said Monday. Apparently, the brain keeps on working for up to 30 seconds after blood flow stops, according to a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. University of Michigan scientists did their research on nine lab rats that were anesthetized and then subjected to induced cardiac arrest as part of the experiment. In the first 30 seconds after their hearts were stopped, they all showed a surge of brain activity, observed in electroencephalograms (EEGs) that indicated highly aroused mental states. We were surprised by the high levels of activity, said senior author George Mashour, professor of anesthesiology and neurosurgery at the University of Michigan. In fact, at near-death, many known electrical signatures of consciousness exceeded levels found in the waking state, suggesting that the brain is capable of well-organized electrical activity during the early stage of clinical death. Similar results in terms of brain activity were seen in rats that were asphyxiated, the researchers said. This study tells us that reduction of oxygen or both oxygen and glucose during cardiac arrest can stimulate brain activity that is characteristic of conscious processing, said lead author Jimo Borjigin. It also provides the first scientific framework for the near-death experiences reported by many cardiac arrest survivors. About 20 percent of people who survive cardiac arrest report having had visions during a period known to doctors as clinical death. Borjigin said she hopes her teams latest study will form the foundation for future human studies investigating mental experiences occurring in the dying brain, including seeing light during cardiac arrest.

Mainstream science has long considered the brain to be inactive during this period, and some experts questioned how much a study on rats could truly reveal about the human brain. Do we know if animals experience consciousness? Most philosophers and scientists are still at loggerheads over what the term refers to in humans, let alone in other species, said David McGonigle, a lecturer at Cardiff University. While recent research now suggests that animals may indeed have the kind of autobiographical memories that humans possess the kinds of memories that allow us to place ourselves in a certain time and place it seems unlikely that near death experiences would necessarily be similar across species. Anders Sandberg, a research fellow at Oxford University described the research as simple and well-done, but urged caution in interpreting the results. EEG tells us things about brain activity a bit like listening at traffic noise tells you what is going on in a city. It is certainly informative, but also an average of a lot of individual interactions, he said. No doubt some people will presumptuously claim that this is further evidence for life after death, which is doubly silly. Near-death experiences are in themselves just experiences, he said. But if one believes that, then one should also conclude the afterlife includes a lot of lab mice.

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Channeling Spirits Shuts Down Parts of Brain

Dec 13, 2012 03:00 AM ET

By studying how the brain as it enters a spiritual state may eventually offer insights into the roots of religion and why some people are more devout than others. When spirits speak through the writing hands of Brazilian mediums, there is a drop in activity in parts of the brain involved in language and purposeful activity. During a trance-like session of psychography, experienced mediums in Brazil allow themselves to become receptive to spirits or dead souls. Then they write automatically, channeling the voices of those they believe to be speaking to them. As these mediums communicate with the dead, found a new study, parts of their brains involved in language and purposeful activity shut down, alongside other patterns of increased and decreased activity. The findings add to our limited understanding of how the spiritual brain works, though for now, science cannot speak to the existence of the spirit world. I dont think this does anything to make (the experience) less real or less profound or to make it less important in the moment, said Andrew Newberg, a neuroscientist at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia. At some point, maybe we will design the perfect study that can prove there were not spirits there and this is just a fascinating way that the brain works, he added. At the moment, all were really doing is saying that this is what happens in the brain when you do this particular practice. In an attempt to understand how the human brain experiences spirituality, Newberg and colleagues have studied a range of practices, including yoga, meditation, prayer and speaking in tongues. This time, he turned to psychography, one of a variety of practices associated with mediums, who lose their own sense of self as they connect with external souls. Of the ten Brazilian psychographers considered in the study, five were experts who had been practicing for an average of 37 years and conducted an average of 15 sessions per month. The other five were novices who had been practicing for far less time and practiced with much less frequency. All were well adjusted and mentally healthy. Each medium entered a trance state and began writing. After 10 minutes, the scientists injected them with a radioactive tracer that traveled to the brain, where it essentially got 3

locked in place, reflecting how blood was flowing to various parts of the brain at the moment of injection. When the session was over 15 minutes later, a scanner illuminated that moment for the researchers. Compared to times when they were simply writing about their thoughts, sessions of psychography induced a number of brain changes in experienced mediums, the researchers report today in the journal PLoS ONE. Specifically, activity decreased in six areas, including the left hippocampus, the left anterior cingulate and the right superior temporal gyrus. The parts that shut down while the spirits moved their hands are areas normally involved in actively writing, concentrating and processing language, Newburg said. Similar trends showed up in a previous study of people who spoke in tongues. Both groups shared the common belief that spirits moved through them to be heard. Novices in the new study showed the opposite pattern, with increased activity in the same parts of the brain that shut down in the advanced practitioners, suggesting that training improves the ability of the brain to enter a spirit-channeling state. To Newburgs surprise, experienced psychographers also consistently produced more complex language on the page when they entered a trance state. You would expect this to mean that language areas were more active because they were making more detailed writings, he said. In fact, it was just the opposite. The less active the brain was and the more expert the person was, the more complex the writing was. With so few studies done on the brains of people involved in spiritual activities, the new research is a helpful contribution to the field of neurotheology, said Patrick McNamara, a neuropsychologist at Northcentral University in Prescott Valley, Arizona. More research might eventually reveal reliable patterns of brain activation that occur across spiritual disciplines, eventually offering insight into the roots of religion and why some people are more devout than others. Then we can ask the big questions, McNamara said. Is that activation of the brain state necessary to enter into the spiritual experience? Or is the spiritual experience key to activate those brain areas? Some people find it easier to access those brain areas associated with spirituality. Other people have to work harder at their religious lives. We have known that for centuries, he added. The brain science just allows us to give a more concrete explanation about why that is the case.
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