EEG Expert Can’t Explain Near Death Experience Data Neurologist and University of Toledo Neuroscience Researcher, Dr. John Greenfield considers EEG data from patients with near death experience (NDE).
BigNews.Biz - Jan 04,2010 - For near death experience skeptics, medical evidence of a flat EEG during an out of body experience has always been a stumbling block. After all, a brain dead patient can’t hallucinate. But, does a flat EEG really mean no brain activity? NDE doubters have claimed activity deep inside the brain, beyond the reach of EEG instruments, must account for the complex “realer than real” experiences reported by those who briefly pass into the afterlife. Now, University of Toledo Neuroscience researcher, and EEG expert, Dr. John Greenfield explains why this claim doesn’t hold up.
“It’s very unlikely that a hypoperfused brain [someone with no blood flow to the brain], with no evidence of electrical activity could generate NDEs. Human studies as well as animal studies have typically shown very little brain perfusion [blood flow] or glucose utilization when the EEG is flat. There are deep brain areas involved in generating memories that might still operate at some very reduced level during cardiac arrest, but of course any subcortically generated activity can't be brought to consciousness without at least one functioning cerebral hemisphere. So even if there were some way that NDEs were generated during the hypoxic state [while the brain is shut off from oxygen], you would not experience them until reperfusion [blood flow] allowed you to dream them or wake up and talk about them”, Greenfield stated.
The complete interview (audio and transcript) with Dr. John Greenfield is available at: http://www.skeptiko.com/eeg-expert-on-near-death-experience/
L. John Greenfield, Jr., M.D., Ph.D. is Professor of Neurology and Physiology/Pharmacology at the University of Toledo Health Science Campus. He’s the author of, Reading EEGs: A Practical Approach.
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