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> “Through generating oscillations involved in memory retrieval, the brain may be playing a last recall of important life events just before we die, similar to
by progman32 5y ago
> “Through generating 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 speculated.
I wonder what the adaptive benefits of near-death flashbacks are. Perhaps as a way to give last-ditch motivation.
We have plenty of accounts of what it's like to have a heart stop. Thank defibrillators for that. Of course, the whole ordeal may not be accurately committed to memory.
- mLuby 5y agoIt doesn't have to have adaptive benefits. The critical path is molded by natural selection but the rest grows wild, mutating as it pleases until it either helps or hinders gene replication. For example, if humans exploded like a bomb when we died the way some insects do to protect their colony, that might be selected for or against by evolution. Or if somehow eating the deceased's heart or brain actually transferred their strength or memories to the consumer, as some cultures believed. But no, death by old age just doesn't interest evolution.
- progman32 5y agoTrue! That was my initial thought too. I'm trying to find a possible adaptive benefit to flashbacks in near death (not actual death, but how would the body know the difference, really), but there may be none. Hard to say. I've certainly heard stories of people "cleaning up" and improving their lives in some way post-flashback, but who's to say the flashback was part of the cause.