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Is this a view of the “white tunnel” phenomenon
We’ve all heard of near-death experiences and reports of people moving a long a white tunnel or corridor while technically dead. These are often believed to be proof of life after death or of the soul moving on.
These reports capture the collective imagination and they are also very consistent and though not common, common enough to warrant investigation. Attempts have been made but this is inherently difficult to investigate — first of all we need to actually know when people are dying and it may be immoral to suddenly wire them up to brain scanners when they are, not to mention that the concern with all involved will be on keeping the person alive.
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However, a team of researchers at the University of Michigan decided to look into this in more detail and first of all looked at animal data they could access. Some of these showed surges after activity in the brain shortly before death which could be a signature of these experiences.
They then managed to find the data of four patients who had passed away in the hospital due to cardiac arrest while under EEG monitoring. These four…
