Michael Persinger on the Neurology of NDEs

What happens in the brain during a Near Death Experience? Does an EEG flat-line mean that there is no brain activity during a NDE? Alex Tsakiris questions neurologist Michael Persinger on his views about NDEs, neurological research and veridical events reported by NDE patients. Persinger, a researcher at Laurentian University is best known for his work on the God Helmet, but his more recent research is on an electromagnetic basis for parapsychological phenomena. He is sceptical of metaphysical explanations for NDEs. Just because the brain’s cortex does not show any activity during an NDE does not show that the brain is dead, any more than a still sea means that there’s no current activity deeper down. What about veridical evidence? How could a patient report events in a room next door during an NDE, that he/she could not have known about? Persinger accepts the validity of the evidence, but explains it in terms of his model for paranormal phenomena. We are immersed in the Earth’s field, and through interacting with it we can perceive far away events. He described the mechanism in his talk, No More Secrets. Remote viewing is possible, he says and it may take place during a NDE, but it is not necessarily evidence for non-local consciousness.