The life review experience: Qualitative and quantitative characteristics.
Consciousness and Cognition February 1, 2017 Judith Katz, Noam Saadon-Grosman, Shahar Arzy
A life-review experience (LRE) involves vividly seeing a succession of one's own life events. Although common in near-death experiences, its occurrence in the general population is not well understood. In-depth qualitative interviews with 7 people who had a full LRE identified several subtypes of characteristics, including order, continuity, covered period, extension to the future, valence, emotions, and perspective taking. A questionnaire developed from these features was administered to 264 participants of diverse ages and backgrounds, and the resulting LRE-score showed a normal distribution. The findings indicate that LRE has well-defined characteristics and that its subcomponents may also appear in healthy people, suggesting a cognitive continuum of life-event representation that may become more pronounced under extreme stress.