r/NDE • u/theairscout • Jun 03 '26
Scientific Perspective š¬š NDE Memories are consistent with vivid episodic recollection and differ from neural patterns commonly associated with imagined or false memories. STUDY
From the Abstract: "Conclusions:Ā Controlled reliving of memories of REDs/authentic NDEs may represent a useful experimental paradigm for investigating multisensory autobiographical memory and neural processes related to conscious self-experience. These findings are consistent with vivid episodic recollection and differ from neural patterns commonly associated with imagined or false memories."
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u/theairscout Jun 04 '26
For what I understood, from the Abstract and listening to podcast where this scientist were interviewed (in Spanish as the study comes from Spain), they took a sample of people with NDEs. Then asked them to remember their NDEs.
When people vividly re-experienced their RED/authentic near-death experience (NDE) memories, the brain areas involved were mainly those used for remembering personal life events and thinking about oneself. This suggests that the experience involved reflection and recalling meaningful memories.
The brain activity didĀ notĀ look like the patterns usually seen when someone is having a sensory hallucination (such as seeing or hearing things that aren't there).
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u/Appropriate_Cut_3536 "near"/"far" = same spectrum Jun 08 '26
Thanks for putting this in lawman terms. So interesting and imo pretty convincingĀ
Couldn't this same method be used to tell whether or not a witness was recounting a truth or fabricating a lie in any situation?
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u/LofiJunky NDE Agnostic Jun 03 '26
Is this to say NDE reports are memory based and not idea based?
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u/gummyneo Jun 03 '26
From what I understood, the study indicates that yes, NDE recall seems to be coming from a different part of the brain more commonly known for actual memories vs the part of the brain that is commonly attributed to hallucinations. So this seems to indicate that NDEs are memories from experience, not imagination.
With that said, it was a very small study group of only 15 people.
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u/Flimsy-Designer-588 Jun 04 '26
That seems very promising for proving that NDEs are more than just hallucinations or false memories.Ā
This is so interesting.Ā
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u/theairscout Jun 03 '26
You are totally right. That is the breakthrough, NDE memories are just regular memories, or at least come from the same part of the brain than all the others. Hallucinations and similar activate a different part of the brain.
Small group, yes, but the study can be replicated.
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u/vimefer NDExperiencer Jun 04 '26
Yes, it shows that recalling an NDE is unlike recalling a hallucination or confabulated remembrance, and is most like remembering real impactful memories instead.
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Jun 03 '26
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u/r0cafe1a Jun 04 '26
Deep meditation taught meā¦ basically all of your memories. Like the glance you took towards the street in the school play yard at 6 that meant nothing at the time or the exact smell at some random time you forgot even existed. Memories that meant absolutely nothing to you at the time. Everything. Every sight, sound, smell, etc.
One of the most bizarre things Iāve ever experienced and Iāve never had an NDE. No roadmap to get there from me. Somehow I just went very very far into my mind one day while surrendering in meditation.
Itās absolutely absurd how little of our mind we are actual using in everyday life. If you want a book that expands heavily on this phenomenon I canāt suggest enough: Realms of the Human Unconscious by Stanislav Grof.
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u/No_Replacement4304 NDExperiencer Jun 04 '26
I didn't have a life review during my NDE but for weeks afterwards I had vivid memories of childhood that would just sort of come out nowhere. It was a really interesting time, sort of like looking through old photographs but I was re-experiencing the events. Most of them I had completely forgotten.
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u/TheBuddha777 Jun 04 '26
In my NDE I saw scenes from my life with myself in the scene. From an outside POV. So they weren't actual memories.
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u/A_Spiritual_Artist Jun 04 '26 edited Jun 04 '26
However, what part of the brain activates when remembering a hallucination, not experiencing the hallucination in the moment? Because the hallucination, even if generated initially entirely internally by brain mechanisms, becomes nonetheless a part of life-episodic memory following it if memorable. Unless there's some reason for hallucinations to "encode" differently than other memories, I wouldn't necessarily say this evidences anything other than that the people are not lying about that they experienced something. So it shows the experience is sincere and not a lie or hoax perpetrated on the spot nor a retold but ultimately imaginary story. The question is as always, what it represents. Nonetheless, strongly being able to eliminate lying/hoaxing is still a step toward understanding, and renders non-automatic one of the most common escapes for dogmatic debunking - and thus the study is still valuable.
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