Word: brained
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...into whether the observations people claim to make during an NDE (details of their resuscitation, the color of a nurse's shoes) are in fact accurate. Meanwhile, University of Kentucky neurophysiologist Kevin Nelson theorizes that NDEs are what can happen when a particular sleep state intrudes on the imperiled brain. "I wouldn't say it's definitive," says Nelson. "But it's an intriguing hypothesis that answers a great deal...
...Entertaining the idea of mind-body duality invites the scorn of those who regard any attempt to dabble beyond the boundaries of conventional science as a waste of time. But that's the point, say others: NDEs don't fit into our current understanding of the brain. They shouldn't happen, yet they do. The task is to build new models in which they...
...last year's first International Medical Conference on Near-Death Experience, held in Martigues, France, eight participants describing themselves as "a group of dedicated physicians and researchers working in different scientific fields" released a statement. They said that while the NDE is mediated by chemical changes in the brain, "its extremely rich and complex content cannot be reduced to a mere illusion." It is of the "utmost importance," they argued, "that scientists wishing to understand the nature of human consciousness conduct research without prejudice...
...what's so baffling about NDEs? We know that when a person's heart stops, the decline in brain function caused by a cut in blood supply is steep. Simultaneous recording of heart rate and brain output shows that within 11 to 20 secs. of the heart failing, the brain waves go flat. A flat electroencephalogram (EEG) recording doesn't suggest mere impairment. It points to the brain having shut down. Longtime NDE researcher Pim van Lommel, a retired Dutch cardiologist, has likened the brain in this state to a "computer with its power source unplugged and its circuits detached...
...this period, between switch-off and resuscitation, that many researchers believe NDEs occur. "Many near-death experiencers describe heightened perceptions and clear thought processes, and form memories, at a time when the brain is incapable of coordinated activity," says Greyson, director of the University of Virginia's Division of Perceptual Studies. "Our current neurophysiological models can explain NDEs only if one ignores much of the empirical data...