A neurobiological model for near-death experiences. II: The problem of recall of real events.

Abstract

In this article we propose a scientific approach to explain the fact that some near-death experiencers (NDErs) are able to recollect and verbalize real events occurring in the environment during the experience. Our model assigns a central place to priming, multiple declarative memory, and verbal modules. These biological mechanisms lead to the assimilation of multiple external cues, the consolidation in memory of matched primed environmental events, and the transformation and creation of logically struc tured functional engrams. Finally, the after-NDE behavioral and verbal in teractions between the experiencer and a community of observers are discussed, together with their results. Until now, near-death studies have been carried out along several approaches, some of which are incompatible. The emergence of neurobiological models strongly suggests that near-death studies have reached a stage allowing a systematic and rigorous organiza Juan Sebastian G6mez-Jeria, Lic.Q., is Associate Professor in the Faculty of Sciences, and Juan Saavedra-Aguilar, M.D., is Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Medicine, both at the University of Chile. This work was funded by research grants from the International Association for Near-Death Studies and from the University of Chile (DTI Project Q-3064). The opinions within this article are the sole responsibility of the authors. Dr. Bruce K. Cassels is gratefully acknowledged for his kind help and comments. Reprint requests should be addressed to Lic. G6mez-Jeria at the Universidad de Chile, Facultad de Ciencias, Departamento de Quimica, Casilla 653, Santiago, Chile. Journal of Near-Death Studies, 13(2) Winter 1994 1994 Human Sciences Press, Inc. 81 JOURNAL OF NEAR-DEATH STUDIES tion. Naturally, the task of squeezing a large body of facts into a model can be a painful one, especially when personal beliefs are involved. The presence of the really arbitrary, such as religious and personal beliefs, and the moderately arbitrary, which are necessary in the first steps in the construction of a scientific model, results in the existence of various basically different "explanations" for the same phenomenon. In the case of near-death experiences (NDEs), a detailed neuro biological model has been proposed (Saavedra-Aguilar and G6mez Jeria, 1989a, 1989b). Later, some extensions or variations of it were presented (Appleby, 1989; Jansen, 1989a, 1989b, 1990; Morse, Venecia, and Milstein, 1989; Owens, Cook, and Stevenson, 1990). Some of these authors seemed to be unaware of the near-death re search literature. Of course, the proprietary questions are not of much importance, but it is strictly necessary to keep the literature straight. A short time ago, an approach we feel was methodologi cally erroneous was used to find similarities between some NDEs and multiple personality disorder (MPD) (Serdahely, 1992). Consid ering that is has been shown that there is a phenomenological over lap between MPD and some cases of obsessive-compulsive disorder (Ross and Anderson, 1988), we might conclude erroneously that per haps some NDEs have similarities with some obsessive-compulsive disorders. Naturally, this is not the case: the NDE is not a clinical disorder. In addition there have been proposed nonscientific models such as the "transcendental" one, in which personal beliefs are mixed with religious traditions (Basil, 1991). We believe that time will show that scientific models are the only ones accounting for near death phenomena. In this article, we will center our work in scien tific terms. A tentative working strategy for developing this model is shown in Figure 1, with the understanding that scientific models always need to be ameliorated in the light of new knowledge (Nagel, 1991). The problem that will be explored here is the following: some per sons are able to recollect and verbalize, at least partially, real events, such as a nurse's voice or the color of a doctor's clothing, occurring in the environment during an NDE. We shall present and discuss recent evidence about the functional mechanisms by which the nerv ous system of a person in an abnormal state is able to deal with the environment. This article initiates a scientific approach to the above mentioned aspect of the NDE. 82 J. S. GOMEZ-JERIA AND J. C. SAAVEDRA-AGUILAR Figure 1 A Simplified Strategy for a Scientific Approach to NDEs Theory behind the NDE model