Death Flashcards
The neurological standard for death is a “permanent cessation of the critical functions of the organism as a whole… respiration and circulation, neuroendocrime, and homeostatic regulation, and consciousness” … the “irreversible cessation of the organism as a whole”
.
Physicalism fits with the neurobiological view that the mind…
is the experience of what the brain does
Core components of near-death experiences
bright light and tunnel, seeing dead people/ghosts, a feeling that one is dead, out of body experience, positive emotions
David Hume, of the philosophical tradition of _____, was among the first to question ____
skepticism; miracles associated with “coming back from death”
Nelson and colleagues suggested that the light at the end of the tunnel can be explained by visual activity during ______, which occurs when the blood and oxygen supply to the eye is depleted.
retinal ischemia
Phosphene
Seeing light without light entering the eye
Low blood pressure, fainting, or high magnetic fields can all cause ___
phosphene
Sufferers of ____ and ____ can have an increased propensity to have a near-death experience.
Migraines; epilepsy
Glaucoma can result in a loss of peripheral vision leading to ____
tunnel vision
Tunnel vision is associated with ____ and ____, two processes common to dying
fear and hypoxia
Blackmore points out that the visual cortex is organized by cells that process peripheral and fovea (i.e. central) vision and excitation of these cells may result in ….
a central bright light and dark periphery, that is, a tunnel effect
Stimulation of the _____ can cause out-of-body experiences (Blanke)
right angular gyrus
It has been suggested that out-of-body experiences result from a failure to _____ from one’s body which results in the disruption of the phenomenological elements of self-representation
integrate multisensory information
Cotard syndrome
feeling dead
Anatomically, Cotard syndrome has been associated with the ________ and the _____ and has been described following trauma, during advanced stages of typhoid, migraines, schizophrenia, and MS.
parietal cortex; prefrontal cortex
Patients with ____ and ____ can have vivid hallucinations of ghosts or monsters
Alzheimer’s; Parkinson’s
Vivid hallucinations can be associated with grey matter decreases in the ____
parietal lobe
Charles-Bonnet syndrome results from _______, causes visual hallucinations
macular degeneration
Imaging studies conducted on Charles-Bonnet patients reveal increased activity in the ______ in the absence of visual stimulation
perceptual areas of the brain- visual and extrastriate cortices
The content of hallucination was associated with _______ of the brain region
functional specialization
One theory is that hallucination occurs during the ______ in brain structures nearby the damaged area
compensatory over-activation
Stimulation of the _____ gave the patient a sensation of a shadowy person lurking behind
left angular gyrus
Blanke and colleagues showed that during electrical stimulation a patient felt the sensation that somebody was behind her who could not speak or move. A similar experience can occur during
sleep paralysis
At varying doses, the administration of ____ can mimic the euphoria, dissociation, hallucinations and spirituality of out-of-body and near-death experiences
ketamine
Ketamine is sometimes used as an anesthetic through its binding with ____ and hallucination may occur through inhibiting NMDA receptors, the same receptors that are evoked during the administration of recreational drugs like amphetamine
opioid receptors
Reward processes may occur naturally and similar systems are evoked when animals are under extreme danger. For example, ______ and ___ systems become active when an animal is under predatory attack
dopamine, opioid
