Enhancement of perceptual and cognitive functions in near-death experience: A perspective from embodiment theories.

People who have had a near-death experience (NDE) produce more iconic and metaphoric hand gestures when describing those events than when describing ordinary events. The gestures are interpreted as physical realizations of mentally simulated actions, indicating that NDE memories are more strongly embodied—that is, more tightly linked to sensorimotor systems—than memories of everyday experiences. The authors suggest that NDEs are perceived, recalled, and embodied through strong activation of sensorimotor systems during a state of perceptual and cognitive enhancement, even though those systems appear unresponsive to external sensory stimuli during the event itself. They conclude that the enhancement of cognitive functions during NDE results from enhanced perceptual functions.

Study at a glance

Abstract

The phenomenon of near-death experience (NDE) is attracting a growing attention among researchers of various fields. In this study, we looked at NDE from a cognitive perspective to find out how NDE events are embodied when people recall and describe them. We examined the descriptions of a group of people talking about what they had experienced in the state of NDE. Based on the gesture-as-simulated-action theory, we assumed that co-speech gestures occurring when people were talking about their experiences were physical realizations of mentally-simulated events. The results showed that the number of iconic and metaphoric gestures occurring with expressions referring to NDE events was significantly larger than those occurred with expressions referring to ordinary events. Based on these results, we suggest that embodied memory for NDE events is stronger than embodied memory for ordinary non-NDE events. NDE events are perceived, recalled, and embodied by strong activation of sensorimotor systems in a state of perceptual and cognitive enhancement, although sensorimotor systems seem to be unresponsive to sensory stimuli during NDE. Finally, based on theories of embodied cognition, we conclude that the enhancement of cognitive functions that takes place in the state of NDE is the result of enhancement in perceptual functions.