Doctor tracking patient's last brainwaves accidentally discovers life playing its 'last showreel' in his head
'If I were to jump to the philosophical realm, I would speculate that if the brain did a flashback...'
We’ve often wondered what happens at the moment we die, and one of the suggested theories is that life flashes before our eyes. A study published by Frontiers revealed this might be true. It was noted that there was a transition activity studied in the human dying brain, and it opened up a possibility of recalling several memories before dying. Dr. Ajmal Zemmar, neurosurgeon at the University of Louisville and co-author of the study, based in Vancouver, Canada, at the time, retrieved a recording of the dying brain and studied the activity, per BBC News. Though unexpected, it is giving much insight into what a person's final moments might look like, while greatly adding to the scope of further study.
A recording was created by accident when scientists were measuring the brainwaves of an 87-year-old with epilepsy. According to WDRB News, Zemmar revealed that they were doing surgery on a patient, and he was expected to go home a few days later. Due to some complications, he started getting seizures, for which doctors put an ECG. Unfortunately, during the recording itself, the man suffered a heart attack and lost his life, according to WAVE News. Due to this, the brainwaves were captured before, during, and after his death. "This was actually totally by chance; we did not plan to do this experiment or record these signals,” Zemmar remarked.
They discovered that the human brain showed the same patterns of dreaming or recalling memories 30 seconds before and after the point of death. According to the University of Louisville, the event is known as "life recall.” Elaborating further, the neurosurgeon explained that the patient’s brain showed the same brainwave pattern that is shown when dreaming, thinking of memories, and similar events. This took place when the man’s heart stopped beating and continued for a few seconds, by which time, he was pronounced dead.
"If I were to jump to the philosophical realm, I would speculate that if the brain did a flashback, it would probably remind you of good things, rather than the bad things. But what's memorable would be different for every person,” Zemmar added. “Through generating brain oscillations involved in memory retrieval, the brain may be playing a last recall of important life events just before we die, similar to the ones reported in near-death experiences,” Zemmar noted. While there is much potential to draw a temporary conclusion and then study more in-depth, the medical professionals also shared a caveat.
It was noted that because the man was epileptic, his brain was swollen and bleeding. There are chances that it’s what compromised the result they saw in the recording. However, when compared to previous analysis done using rats as subjects, a high brainwave pattern was observed at the point of death until 30 seconds later. The similarity meant something connected. “What we think is happening is that you have a movie of your life playing at the time of death,” Zemmar said. "I think there's something mystical and spiritual about this whole near-death experience. And findings like this — it's a moment that scientists live for,” Zemmar added.
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