ArticleBrain communications2021
The evolutionary origin of near-death experiences: a systematic investigation.
Article in Brain communications, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 20 papers.
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Who cites it
20 citing papers in PubMed, 48 citations in OpenAlex.
- Article
- Reappraising the claims of evolutionary continuity between thanatosis and near-death experiences.Brain communications · 2026Article
- Self-reported near-death and near-death-like experiences in a Chinese online sample: an exploratory mixed-methods study.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- The intertwining of death and life: a hermeneutic phenomenological investigation of near-death experiences among coma survivors.BMC psychology · 2025Article
- Reply to 'Perils and pitfalls of near-death experience research'.Nature reviews. Neurology · 2025Article
- Reply to 'Limitations of neurocentric models for near-death experiences'.Nature reviews. Neurology · 2025Article
- A neuroscientific model of near-death experiences.Nature reviews. Neurology · 2025Review
- Tonic immobility and phenomenal consciousness in animals: a review.Frontiers in psychology · 2025Review
- The intersection of near-death experiences (NDEs) and traumatic brain injury (TBI): neurobiological, phenomenological, and creative implications.Frontiers in human neuroscience · 2025Article
- The Orexin/Hypocretin System, the Peptidergic Regulator of Vigilance, Orchestrates Adaptation to Stress.Biomedicines · 2024Review
- Induced Coma, Death, and Organ Transplantation: A Physiologic, Genetic, and Theological Perspective.International journal of molecular sciences · 2023Review
- Incidence of near-death experiences in patients surviving a prolonged critical illness and their long-term impact: a prospective observational study.Critical care (London, England) · 2023Observational
- Personality traits and pattern of beliefs of near-death(-like) experiencers.Frontiers in human neuroscience · 2023Article
- Evolutionary game model of migraine based on the human brain hypersensitivity.Frontiers in neurology · 2023Article
- Language as a Window Into the Altered State of Consciousness Elicited by Psychedelic Drugs.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2022Review
- Near-death experiences and the importance of transparency in subjectivity, ontology and epistemology.Brain communications · 2022Article
- Response to: Near-death experiences and the importance of transparency in subjectivity, ontology and epistemology.Brain communications · 2022Article
- Neuro-functional modeling of near-death experiences in contexts of altered states of consciousness.Frontiers in psychology · 2022Article
- From the stillness of feigning death to near-death experience?Brain communications · 2021Article
- A century of 'The science of yoga' (1921-2021): Revival, renewal and renaissance.Journal of Ayurveda and integrative medicineReview
Corrections and comments
- Erratum issued
Authors and funding
5 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Near-death experiences are known from all parts of the world, various times and numerous cultural backgrounds. This universality suggests that near-death experiences may have a biological origin and purpose. Adhering to a preregistered protocol, we investigate the hypothesis that thanatosis, aka death-feigning, a last-resort defense mechanism in animals, is the evolutionary origin of near-death experiences. We first show that thanatosis is a highly preserved survival strategy occurring at all major nodes in a cladogram ranging from insects to humans. We then show that humans under attack by animal, human and 'modern' predators can experience both thanatosis and near-death experiences, and we further show that the phenomenology and the effects of the two overlap. In summary, we build a line of evidence suggesting that thanatosis is the evolutionary foundation of near-death experiences and that their shared biological purpose is the benefit of survival. We propose that the acquisition of language enabled humans to transform these events from relatively stereotyped death-feigning under predatory attacks into the rich perceptions that form near-death experiences and extend to non-predatory situations.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.