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What happens after death? The first-ever recording of a dying person's brain revealed a mystery
For centuries, scientists have been unable to understand what happens to the human brain when a person dies. The first-ever neurorecording of a dying person has revealed this mystery.
A team of neuroscientists recorded the brain activity of the human brain moving from the world of the living to the world of the dead. This indicates that people are undergoing a "life review" at the final stage of their existence, writes DailyMail.
It is known that people who have experienced clinical death have repeatedly said that in the last moments, their whole life flashes before them as if in an accelerated video. Many describe it as an experience where they see their lives "flashing before their eyes."
Until now, however, these were just words. But now, neuroscientists have made a revolutionary recording when an 87-year-old patient suffered a cardiac arrest during treatment for epilepsy. Doctors connected his head to a device to monitor his brain activity, but the man died at that time.
Neuroscientists recorded 900 seconds of brain activity around the time of death, allowing them to see what happened 30 seconds before and after his heart stopped beating. Measurements of brain waves before and after showed that areas associated with memories and searching were still active.
"Through the generation of brain waves involved in memory retrieval, the brain may be replaying the last memory of important life events just before death," said Dr. Ajmal Zemmar of the University of Louisville.
"This discovery challenges our understanding of when life ends. And it raises important questions, such as those related to the timing of organ donation," the scientist added.
The researchers suggested that the brain may be biologically programmed to manage the transition to death, potentially by organizing a series of physiological and neurological events rather than simply shutting down instantly.
Scientists are still not sure how and why the phenomenon of life revision occurs, but they have some theories. One suggests that oxygen deprivation during a life-threatening event can cause the release of neurotransmitters, or chemical messengers that transmit signals between neurons.
This causes neurons to fire quickly, and this increased activity can lead to the perception of vivid memories and images, experts say.
Other scientists believe that some very emotional memories are stored in the amygdala, which is the same part of the brain responsible for the fight or flight response. Therefore, activating this area of the brain during a life-threatening experience can release these vivid memories, making them flash before your eyes.
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