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...
Journal of Near-Death Studies
2021
Steven Laureys, Vanessa Charland-Verville, M. Botbol-Baum
Article discussing research related to personal feelings of self-location and movement during near-death experiences (NDEs). It also describes the use of "Archi-Textures" to more clearly define spatio-temporal experiences during NDEs.
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...
Neuroimage
October 15, 2019
Guo-Rong Wu, Carol di Perri, Vanessa Charland-Verville et al.
Functional imaging research has already contributed with several results to the study of neural correlates of consciousness. Apart from task-related activation derived in fMRI, PET based glucose metabolism rate or cerebral blood flow account for a considerable proportion of the study of brain activity under different levels of consciousness. Resting state functional connectivity MRI is playing...
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 Neurology
August 28, 2018
Audrey Vanhaudenhuyse, Vanessa Charland-Verville, Aurore Thibaut et al.
Despite recent advances in our understanding of consciousness disorders, accurate diagnosis of severely brain-damaged patients is still a major clinical challenge. We here present the case of a patient who was considered in an unresponsive wakefulness syndrome/vegetative state for 20 years. Repeated standardized behavioral examinations combined to neuroimaging assessments allowed us to show...
Psychological Research
July 1, 2018
Charlotte Martial, Vanessa Charland-Verville, Hedwige Dehon et al.
It has been postulated that memories of near-death experiences (NDEs) could be (at least in part) reconstructions based on experiencers' (NDErs) previous knowledge and could be built as a result of the individual's attempt to interpret the confusing experience. From the point of view of the experiencer, NDE memories are perceived as being unrivalled memories due to its associated rich...
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.].
Consciousness and Cognition
July 1, 2015
Vanessa Charland-Verville, Zulay Lugo, Jean-Pierre Jourdan et al.
Memories of Near-Death Experiences (NDEs) most often are recounted as emotionally positive events. At present, no satisfactory explanatory model exists to fully account for the rich phenomenology of NDEs following a severe acute brain injury. The particular population of patients with locked-in syndrome (LIS) provides a unique opportunity to study NDEs following infratentorial brain lesions. We...
Frontiers in Human Neuroscience
May 27, 2014
Vanessa Charland-Verville, Jean-Pierre Jourdan, Marie Thonnard et al.
116 citations
BACKGROUND: Near death experiences (NDEs) are increasingly being reported as a clearly identifiable physiological and psychological reality of clinical significance. However, the definition and causes of the phenomenon as well as the identification of NDE experiencers is still a matter of debate. To date, the most widely used standardized tool to identify and characterize NDEs in research is...
PLoS One
March 27, 2013
Marie Thonnard, Vanessa Charland-Verville, Serge Brédart et al.
140 citations
Since the dawn of time, Near-Death Experiences (NDEs) have intrigued and, nowadays, are still not fully explained. Since reports of NDEs are proposed to be imagined events, and since memories of imagined events have, on average, fewer phenomenological characteristics than real events memories, we here compared phenomenological characteristics of NDEs reports with memories of imagined and real...