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What happens in the brain when we die? Deciphering the neurophysiology of the final moments in life

When do we die and what happens in the brain when we die? The mystery around these questions has engaged mankind for centuries. Despite the challenges to obtain recordings of the dying brain, recent studies have contributed to better understand the processes occurring during the last moments of life...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Shlobin, Nathan A., Aru, Jaan, Vicente, Raul, Zemmar, Ajmal
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10203241/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37228251
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fnagi.2023.1143848
Descripción
Sumario:When do we die and what happens in the brain when we die? The mystery around these questions has engaged mankind for centuries. Despite the challenges to obtain recordings of the dying brain, recent studies have contributed to better understand the processes occurring during the last moments of life. In this review, we summarize the literature on neurophysiological changes around the time of death. Perhaps the only subjective description of death stems from survivors of near-death experiences (NDEs). Hallmarks of NDEs include memory recall, out-of-body experiences, dreaming, and meditative states. We survey the evidence investigating neurophysiological changes of these experiences in healthy subjects and attempt to incorporate this knowledge into the existing literature investigating the dying brain to provide valuations for the neurophysiological footprint and timeline of death. We aim to identify reasons explaining the variations of data between studies investigating this field and provide suggestions to standardize research and reduce data variability.