Memories of near-death experiences are recalled as more vivid and detailed than memories of actual real events or imagined events. In a study of 122 people who had a near-death experience, participants rated their memory of that experience higher on a standard memory questionnaire than their memory of a real event that happened around the same time, which in turn was rated higher than a memory of an imagined event. The findings suggest that near-death experiences are not remembered as imagined or dreamlike but as even more real than everyday experiences.
A 54-year-old man with bacterial meningitis experienced a complete recovery without neurological deficits despite a fluctuating Glasgow Coma Scale score between 6 and 11 during an 8-day hospitalization. He recalled an elaborate near-death experience that occurred while he was comatose. The case underscores the value of studying near-death experiences during compromised brain function to better understand consciousness.