Neuroimage
September 1, 2024
Charlotte Martial, Andrea Piarulli, Olivia Gosseries et al.
10 citations
During fainting, disconnected consciousness may emerge in the form of dream-like experiences. Characterized by extra-ordinary and mystical features, these subjective experiences have been associated to near-death-like experiences (NDEs-like). We here aim to assess brain activity during syncope-induced disconnected consciousness by means of high-density EEG monitoring. Transient loss of...
International journal of clinical and health psychology : IJCHP
2024
Charlotte Martial, Pauline Fritz, Héléna Cassol et al.
3 citations
It is not rare that intensive care unit (ICU) patients report unusual subjective experiences, ranging from a feeling of harmony with the environment to complex phenomena such as near-death experience (NDE). This 1-year follow-up study investigates the characteristics and potential global impact of the NDE memories recalled by ICU survivors. We prospectively enrolled 126 adult survivors of a...
Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience
September 1, 2023
Charlotte Martial, Héléna Cassol, Mel Slater et al.
13 citations
Out-of-body experiences (OBEs) are subjective experiences of seeing one's own body and the environment from a location outside the physical body. They can arise spontaneously or in specific conditions, such as during the intake of dissociative drug. Given its unpredictable occurrence, one way to empirically study it is to induce subjective experiences resembling an OBE using technology such as...
Frontiers in Human Neuroscience
April 28, 2023
Aminata Bicego, Héléna Cassol, Jessica Simon et al.
13 citations
Introduction Little is known about the potential personality and psychological predictors of near-death experiences (NDEs), and fewer yet those of near-death-like experiences (NDEs-like; similar phenomenology reported after a non-life-threatening context). This study investigated whether personality traits (Openness, Extraversion, Pleasantness, Conscientiousness, and Neuroticism), dissociative...
Critical Care
February 27, 2023
A. Rousseau, Laurence Dams, Quentin Massart et al.
26 citations
Background So far, the few prospective studies on near-death experience (NDE) were carried out only in intensive care unit (ICU) patients with homogeneous aetiologies, such as cardiac arrest or trauma survivors. The aims of this 1-year prospective and monocentric study were to investigate the incidence of NDE in ICU survivors (all aetiologies) as well as factors that may affect its frequency,...
Frontiers in Psychiatry
2023
Yan Li, Yan Chen, Charlotte Martial et al.
In recent years, a growing number of near-death experience (NDE) testimonies have been collected worldwide due to an increasing interest in research on this phenomenon. China has many patients who survive life-threatening situations, leaving over much data on NDEs to be collected for research. In the historical context of Eastern civilization, many mentally controlled practices in China can...
Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences
August 26, 2022
Charlotte Martial, Olivia Gosseries, Héléna Cassol et al.
17 citations
Parnia et al. recently published suggestions for the study of death and experiences recalled in a near‐death context. We have serious reservations about the authors’ statements. In this commentary, we discuss the omissions and knowledge gaps inherent to the authors’ paper, which among others include incorrect neurological claims about brain death and misunderstandings regarding the terminology...
Brain Sciences
July 14, 2021
Charlotte Martial, Géraldine Fontaine, Olivia Gosseries et al.
37 citations
Many people who have had a near-death experience (NDE) describe, as part of it, a disturbed sense of having a "distinct self". However, no empirical studies have been conducted to explore the frequency or intensity of these effects. We surveyed 100 NDE experiencers (Near-Death-Experience Content [NDE-C] scale total score ≥27/80). Eighty participants had their NDEs in life-threatening situations...
Brain Communications
June 22, 2021
Costanza Peinkhofer, Charlotte Martial, Héléna Cassol et al.
49 citations
Abstract Near-death experiences are known from all parts of the world, various times and numerous cultural backgrounds. This universality suggests that near-death experiences may have a biological origin and purpose. Adhering to a preregistered protocol, we investigate the hypothesis that thanatosis, aka death-feigning, a last-resort defense mechanism in animals, is the evolutionary origin of...
Consciousness and Cognition
November 1, 2020
Charlotte Martial, Jessica Simon, Ninon Puttaert et al.
69 citations
As interest grows in near-death experiences (NDEs), it is increasingly important to accurately identify them to facilitate empirical research and reproducibility among assessors. We aimed (1) to reassess the psychometric properties of the NDE scale developed by Greyson (1983) and (2) to validate the Near-Death Experience Content (NDE-C) scale that quantifies NDEs in a more complete way....
Frontiers in Psychology
May 13, 2020
Héléna Cassol, E. Bonin, C. Bastin et al.
9 citations
Memories of near-death experiences (NDEs) are recalled as “realer” than memories of other real or imagined events. Given their rich phenomenology, emotionality and consequentiality, it was hypothesized that they could meet some aspects of the definition of flashbulb memories. We aimed to identify and compare the episodic and non-episodic information provided in verbal recollections of NDE,...
PLoS One
January 30, 2020
Vanessa Charland-Verville, D. Ribeiro de Paula, Charlotte Martial et al.
20 citations
The notion that death represents a passing to an afterlife, where we are reunited with loved ones and live eternally in a utopian paradise, is common in the reports of people who have encountered a “Near-Death Experience” (NDE). NDEs are thoroughly portrayed by the media but empirical studies are rather recent. The definition of the phenomenon as well as the identification of NDE experiencers...
Trends in Cognitive Sciences
January 22, 2020
Charlotte Martial, Héléna Cassol, Steven Laureys et al.
90 citations
Forty-five years ago, the first evidence of near-death experience (NDE) during comatose state was provided, setting the stage for a new paradigm for studying the neural basis of consciousness in unresponsive states. At present, the state of consciousness associated with NDEs remains an open question. In the common view, consciousness is said to disappear in a coma with the brain shutting down,...
Scientific Reports
October 1, 2019
Charlotte Martial, Armand Mensen, Vanessa Charland-Verville et al.
36 citations
The neurobiological basis of near-death experiences (NDEs) is unknown, but a few studies attempted to investigate it by reproducing in laboratory settings phenomenological experiences that seem to closely resemble NDEs. So far, no study has induced NDE-like features via hypnotic modulation while simultaneously measuring changes in brain activity using high-density EEG. Five volunteers who...
Memory
June 12, 2019
Héléna Cassol, Charlotte Martial, Jitka Annen et al.
60 citations
Near-death experiences (NDEs) are usually associated with positive affect, however, a small proportion are considered distressing. We aimed to look into the proportion of distressing NDEs in a sample of NDE narratives, categorise distressing narratives according to Greyson and Bush’s classification (inverse, void or hellish), and compare distressing and “classical” NDEs. Participants wrote down...
Consciousness and Cognition
March 1, 2019
Charlotte Martial, Héléna Cassol, Vanessa Charland-Verville et al.
98 citations
The real or perceived proximity to death often results in a non-ordinary state of consciousness characterized by phenomenological features such as the perception of leaving the body boundaries, feelings of peace, bliss and timelessness, life review, the sensation of traveling through a tunnel and an irreversible threshold. Near-death experiences (NDEs) are comparable among individuals of...
Neuroscience of Consciousness
2019
Héléna Cassol, Arnaud D’Argembeau, Vanessa Charland-Verville et al.
16 citations
Some people report memories of near-death experiences (NDEs) after facing situations of impending death and these memories appear to have significant consequences on their lives (here referred to as “real NDE experiencers”; real NDErs). We assessed to what extent NDE memories are considered self-defining: memories that help people to define clearly how they see themselves. We screened 71...
Frontiers in Psychology
August 15, 2018
Christopher Timmermann, Leor Roseman, L. Williams et al.
228 citations
Near-death experiences (NDEs) are complex subjective experiences, which have been previously associated with the psychedelic experience and more specifically with the experience induced by the potent serotonergic, N,N-Dimethyltryptamine (DMT). Potential similarities between both subjective states have been noted previously, including the subjective feeling of transcending one's body and...
Frontiers in Psychiatry
June 7, 2018
Charlotte Martial, Héléna Cassol, Vanessa Charland-Verville et al.
70 citations
Little is known about the personality characteristics of those who have experienced a "Near-Death Experience" (NDE). One interesting candidate is fantasy proneness. We studied this trait in individuals who developed NDEs in the presence (i.e., classical NDEs) or absence (i.e., NDEs-like) of a life-threatening situation. We surveyed a total of 228 individuals. From those, 108 qualified as NDE...
PLoS One
February 14, 2018
Héléna Cassol, Benoît Pétré, Sophie Degrange et al.
131 citations
Near-death experiences (NDEs) refer to profound psychological events that can have an important impact on the experiencers' (NDErs) lives. Previous studies have shown that NDEs memories are phenomenologically rich. In the present study, we therefore aimed to extract the common themes (referred to as "features" in the NDE literature) reported by NDErs by analyzing all the concepts stored in the...
Frontiers in Neuroscience
2018
Héléna Cassol, Arnaud D’Argembeau, Vanessa Charland-Verville et al.
1 citation
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Consciousness and Cognition
July 8, 2017
Charlotte Martial, Vanessa Charland-Verville, Héléna Cassol et al.
24 citations
Memories of Near-Death Experiences (NDEs) seem to be very detailed and stable over time. At present, there is still no satisfactory explanation for the NDEs' rich phenomenology. Here we compared phenomenological characteristics of NDE memories with the reported experience's intensity. We included 152 individuals with a self-reported "classical" NDE (i.e. occurring in life-threatening...
Frontiers in Human Neuroscience
June 13, 2017
Charlotte Martial, Héléna Cassol, Georgios Antonopoulos et al.
85 citations
Background: After an occurrence of a Near-Death Experience (NDE), Near-Death Experiencers (NDErs) usually report extremely rich and detailed narratives. Phenomenologically, a NDE can be described as a set of distinguishable features. Some authors have proposed regular patterns of NDEs, however the actual temporality sequence of NDE core features remains a little explored area. Objectives: The...
Frontiers in Human Neuroscience
2017
Charlotte Martial, Héléna Cassol, Georgios Antonopoulos et al.
correction
[This corrects the article on p. 311 in vol. 11, PMID: 28659779.].