Maarten Vergucht

2 papers in the library · publishing 2026

Papers

scintillating scotoma: when the cortex fails, brilliant inner white light appears

Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research) April 6, 2026 Maarten Vergucht

During a migraine aura, a failing visual cortex produces brilliant, structured light rather than darkness. The conventional explanation—that Cortical Spreading Depression (CSD) generates this light through spontaneous excitation—is internally inconsistent because CSD consistently causes functional deficits (hemiparesis, numbness, aphasia) in other cortical regions. Three lines of evidence show the visual cortex is profoundly suppressed during aura: MEG data show collapse of alpha- and gamma-band rhythms; VEP studies show no response to external light; and novel SEEG recordings reveal a near-silent cortical signal precisely correlating with the scintillating scotoma. The paper extends this to near-death experiences, where intense light phenomena may correspond to the ultimate cortical silence of Terminal Spreading Depolarization. A double dissociation emerges: retinal ischaemia causes darkness, cortical ischaemia causes brilliant light, consistent with filter theory of consciousness.

DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.19437061 Cortex anatomy Visual cortex Neurophysiology Cortical spreading depression +7

How Consciousness Introduces Presentism into an Eternalist Spacetime: ego-dissolution as presentism-dissolution.

Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research) March 23, 2026 Maarten Vergucht

The special theory of relativity suggests the universe is an eternalist four-dimensional block where past, present, and future coexist, yet people experience time as a sequential flow with a privileged now. This paper argues that presentism is not a feature of the universe but a product of conscious observation through the Default Mode Network (DMN), which imposes a reference frame on the eternalist block. Dissolving that reference frame—as occurs during ego dissolution under psychedelics, deep meditation, or near-death experiences—should dissolve presentism, leading to experiences of timelessness and non-locality that match the eternalist block. The ordinary experience of time's flow is thus a local construction, not fundamental reality.

DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.19182983 Presentism Consciousness Frame of reference Phenomenology philosophy +14