Near-death experiences are known from all parts of the world, various times and numerous cultural backgrounds. This universality suggests they may have a biological origin and purpose, but exactly what this could be has been largely unexplored.
A new study published in Brain Communications shows how near-death experiences in humans may have arisen from evolutionary mechanisms.
"Adhering to a preregistered protocol, we investigated the hypothesis that thanatosis is the evolutionary origin of near-death experiences", says the senior author.
When attacked by a predator, as a last resort defense mechanism, animals can feign death to improve their chances of survival, one example being the opossum. This phenomenon is termed thanatosis, also known as death-feigning or tonic immobility. "As a survival strategy," the author adds, "thanatosis is probably as old as the fight-or-flight response."
Another author explains: "We first show that thanatosis is a highly preserved survival strategy occurring at all major nodes in a cladogram ranging from insects to fish, reptiles, birds and mammals, including humans. We then show that humans under attack by big animals such as lions or grizzly bears, human predators such as sexual offenders, and 'modern' predators such as cars in traffic accidents can experience both thanatosis and near-death experiences. Furthermore, we show that the phenomenology and the effects of thanatosis and near-death experiences overlap."
The authors propose that the acquisition of language enabled humans to transform these events from relatively stereotyped death-feigning under predatory attacks into the rich perceptions that form near-death experiences and extend to non-predatory situations.
"Of note, the proposed cerebral mechanisms behind death-feigning are not unlike those that have been suggested to induce near-death experiences, including intrusion of rapid eye movement sleep into wakefulness," the author explains. "This further strengthens the idea that evolutionary mechanisms are an important piece of information needed to develop a complete biological framework for near-death experiences."
No previous work has tried to provide such a phylogenetic basis. Another author concludes, "this may also be the first time we can assign a biological purpose to near-death experiences, which would be the benefit of survival."
And the senior author adds, "after all, near-death experiences are by definition events that are always survived, without exception."
https://academic.oup.com/braincomms/advance-article/doi/10.1093/braincomms/fcab132/6307709
http://sciencemission.com/site/index.php?page=news&type=view&id=publications%2Fthe-evolutionary-origin&filter=22
What is Thanatosis?
- 1,100 views
- Added
Edited
Latest News
Vitamin D regulates microbi…
By newseditor
Posted 27 Apr
Role of alternative splicin…
By newseditor
Posted 27 Apr
How the brain fine-tunes it…
By newseditor
Posted 25 Apr
Immune cells carry a long-l…
By newseditor
Posted 25 Apr
Mutations in noncoding DNA…
By newseditor
Posted 24 Apr
Other Top Stories
Diet has rapid effects on sperm quality
Read more
Cognitive behavioral therapy for social anxiety can have a protecti…
Read more
Association of short or long sleep with pulmonary fibrosis
Read more
Cilia and centrioles
Read more
Recalling the past and imagining the future using memory engrams
Read more
Protocols
A programmable targeted pro…
By newseditor
Posted 23 Apr
MemPrep, a new technology f…
By newseditor
Posted 08 Apr
A tangible method to assess…
By newseditor
Posted 08 Apr
Stem cell-derived vessels-o…
By newseditor
Posted 06 Apr
Single-cell biclustering fo…
By newseditor
Posted 01 Apr
Publications
Focal clusters of peri-syna…
By newseditor
Posted 27 Apr
IL-6 promotes tumor growth…
By newseditor
Posted 27 Apr
Partial loss of MCU mitigat…
By newseditor
Posted 27 Apr
Thiol dioxygenases: from st…
By newseditor
Posted 27 Apr
Systematic characterization…
By newseditor
Posted 27 Apr
Presentations
Hydrogels in Drug Delivery
By newseditor
Posted 12 Apr
Lipids
By newseditor
Posted 31 Dec
Cell biology of carbohydrat…
By newseditor
Posted 29 Nov
RNA interference (RNAi)
By newseditor
Posted 23 Oct
RNA structure and functions
By newseditor
Posted 19 Oct
Posters
A chemical biology/modular…
By newseditor
Posted 22 Aug
Single-molecule covalent ma…
By newseditor
Posted 04 Jul
ASCO-2020-HEALTH SERVICES R…
By newseditor
Posted 23 Mar
ASCO-2020-HEAD AND NECK CANCER
By newseditor
Posted 23 Mar
ASCO-2020-GENITOURINARY CAN…
By newseditor
Posted 23 Mar