The near-death experience (NDE) as an inherited predisposition: Possible genetic, epigenetic, neural and symbolic mechanisms.
J. Lake
Medical Hypotheses March 26, 2019 DOI: 10.1016/j.mehy.2019.03.016 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Topics | Near-death experience |
| Key points | Argues that a predisposition to near-death experiences likely originated from a pre-adaptation for self-reflective awareness and persists through multi-factorial biological, social, and symbolic processes. |
Abstract
The paper is divided into four parts. In Part I, I review principle NDE models, important recent research findings and limitations of NDE research I remark on the absence of consensus on an explanatory model of NDEs. Part II begins with an overview of NDE evolutionary thinking up until now. I define an NDE predisposition as a specialized kind of higher cognitive trait and argue that this predisposition probably originated from a pre-adaptation that permitted early hominins to have self-reflective awareness and experience specialized states of consciousness involving complex mental imagery ensuring flexible adaptive responses to unpredictable or life-threatening situations. I argue that a model of evolutionary dynamics underlying an NDE predisposition must be contextualized in a more general theory that views body-brain-environment as a dynamic complex system influenced by biological, psychological and symbolic processes. I describe evolutionary scenarios that may have led to the origin and persistence of an NDE predisposition in populations through direct, indirect or neutral selection involving both biological and nonbiological inheritance mechanisms. Specifically, I examine the evolutionary dynamics of an NDE predisposition from the perspectives of multi-factorial fitness landscapes, the neuronal replicator hypothesis, socio-cultural, behavioral and symbolic inheritance systems. I contrast NDEs reported in the context of lifethreatening situations to phenomenologically similar experiences that frequently take place in non-life-threatening contexts such as dreams and in trance. I examine claims of spiritual and psychological changes following both pleasant and frightening NDEs in the context of different evolutionary scenarios. In Part III I discuss possible neural mechanisms underlying evolutionary dynamics of an NDE predisposition. Topics covered include heritable modules that solve problems related to survival, implications of functional integration of the limbic system and neocortex, the concept of brain-to-brain replication of semantic information as a pre-adaptation required for socio-cultural transmission of NDE narratives as memes, and the possible roles of epigenetic mechanisms in shaping the inheritance and transmission of an NDE predisposition. In Part IV I critique the various evolutionary scenarios discussed in the paper and argue that an NDE predisposition probably originated and persists through the operation of multi-factorial biological, social and symbolic processes that shape inheritance. I argue that an NDE predisposition could have resulted from direct or indirect selection or both direct and indirect selection depending on factors that shape evolutionary dynamics of different populations at different times. Finally, I make recommendations for improvements in methodology in near-death research broadly, and propose field studies that may clarify the relative contributions of genetic, epigenetic and social mechanisms influencing the evolutionary dynamics of an NDE predisposition.
Comparable studies
Other theoretical and historical papers on near-death experience, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Otherworld Journeys: Accounts of Near-Death Experience in Medieval and Modern Times | 1987 | Historical analysis | |
| Neuroscience and the Near-Death Experience: Roles for the NMSA-PCP receptor, the sigma receptor and the endopsychosins | 1990 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Implications of near-death experiences for a postmaterialist psychology. | 2010 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Near-Death Experience as a Probe to Explore (Disconnected) Consciousness | 2020 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Near-death experiences between science and prejudice | 2012 | Theoretical or philosophical paper |
Citations in the library
Cited by 6
- The evolutionary origin of near-death experiences: a systematic investigation Brain Communications June 22, 2021
- Semiology and Mechanisms of Near-Death Experiences Current Neurology and Neuroscience Reports July 27, 2019
- Smokable "Vine of the Dead": Two Case Studies of Experiencers of Both Changa and Near-Death Experiences International Journal of Transpersonal Studies December 31, 2024
- An encounter with death: a comparative thematic and content analysis of naturalistic DMT experiences and the near-death experience. Frontiers in Psychology 2025
- On Defining ‘Near-Death Experience’, ‘Near-Death Memory’ and ‘Near-Death Report’ International Journal of Philosophy 2019
and 1 more in the library
Cites 27
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- Near-death experience in survivors of cardiac arrest: a prospective study in the Netherlands The Lancet December 1, 2001
- Enhanced repertoire of brain dynamical states during the psychedelic experience Human Brain Mapping July 3, 2014
- DMT Models the Near-Death Experience Frontiers in Psychology August 15, 2018
- Distressing Near-Death Experiences Psychiatry February 1, 1992
and 22 more in the library