Does time perception change in near death patients?

[Student100]

Hey, I was wondering if anyone had read any studies into time perception before or near death, I tried googling it and get the anecdotal "my life flashed before my eyes" type deal. I'm actually more interested in studies and published works though.

I was curious about the subject and would like to read up on it, and am trying to put something together for my neuro class. I thought perhaps like the event horizon of a black hole, at the moments preceding death or near death that time slows down in such a way that the observer never actually experiences death, only approaches it.

Maybe there's not really anything out there, due to the difficult nature of the topic.

 

[Evo]

Hey, I was wondering if anyone had read any studies into time perception before or near death, I tried googling it and get the anecdotal "my life flashed before my eyes" type deal. I'm actually more interested in studies and published works though.

I was curious about the subject and would like to read up on it, and am trying to put something together for my neuro class. I thought perhaps like the event horizon of a black hole, at the moments preceding death or near death that time slows down in such a way that the observer never actually experiences death, only approaches it.

Maybe there's not really anything out there, due to the difficult nature of the topic.

I believe there is no literature on it because it doesn't happen with chronic illness or old age as the cause of death.

To my knowledge, the "my life flashed before my eyes" has to do with people experiencing a frightening experience, such as a life threatening accident or situation. I have experienced the slowing down effect during accidents 3 times, and it happened before injury, it seems to be related to being very scared. No people that I know that were terminally ill ever mentioned any such experience.

Also, your post is overly speculative, please keep posts based in known mainstream science.

 

[Student100]

Indeed I did mean does, thanks.

That was the point of the question, to discover if any such mainstream work existed on the topic. I'll take the reply as a no.

 

[Evo]

I'm leaving the thread open in case someone knows of any studies.

 

[zoobyshoe]

Googling tells me there is at least one neuroscientist studying this:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129112147&ft=1&f=1001

What is of interest is that he's recreated the effect in many volunteers by putting them through a kind of variant bungee jumping experience.

The article is worth a read and you can google further for more about Eagleman.

 

[Superposed_Cat]

I also think it depends how you die. If it is brain related then I suppose it would. But I don't know of any studies.

 

[Manish7]

it's all about memory, not turbo perception. "Normally, our memories are like sieves," he says. "We're not writing down most of what's passing through our system." Think about walking down a crowded street: You see a lot of faces, street signs, all kinds of stimuli. Most of this, though, never becomes a part of your memory. But if a car suddenly swerves and heads straight for you, your memory shifts gears. Now it's writing down everything — every cloud, every piece of dirt, every little fleeting thought, anything that might be useful.

 

[Kenny Bala]

I read that brain activity spikes in near death brains of mice, so it seems plausible that these brain surges would also explain near death experiences, and the flashing.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-23672150

http://www.washingtonpost.com/natio...026016-0105-11e3-9a3e-916de805f65d_story.html

 

[Johninch]

Here is a whole list of articles and references to studies on the subject:

http://www.horizonresearch.org/main_page.php?cat_id=234

I have read that 10-20% of patients who survive cardiac arrest report an NDE.

I have also read that neuroscience journals are reluctant to publish submissions on this subject due to the poor quality of research.

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