The Edge of Existence: Near Death Experiences at the Intersection of Science and Mystery

When Pam Reynolds underwent a revolutionary brain surgery in 1991 that required her body temperature to be lowered to 60 degrees Fahrenheit and her heart to be stopped, medical science dictated she should have experienced nothing—no consciousness, no memories, no awareness. Yet upon awakening, Reynolds provided remarkably accurate descriptions of surgical instruments she had never seen, conversations between medical staff that occurred while she was clinically dead, and an otherworldly journey that would transform her understanding of life and death.¹ Her case represents one of the most medically documented instances of what researchers call a near-death experience (NDE), a phenomenon that continues to challenge our fundamental assumptions about consciousness, brain function, and the nature of human existence.

Near-death experiences occur in approximately 18% of cardiac arrest survivors, though estimates vary from 6% to 39% depending on study methodology and population.² These profound subjective experiences typically happen when individuals are so physically compromised that they are unconscious, comatose, or clinically dead. The phenomenon gained scientific recognition in 1975 when psychiatrist Raymond Moody coined the term in his groundbreaking book “Life After Life,” which documented consistent patterns among 150 individuals who had undergone these experiences.³ Since then, thousands of cases have been studied, revealing both remarkable consistencies and intriguing variations that span cultures, religions, and historical periods.

The anatomy of dying: medical definitions and common features

From a medical perspective, NDEs occur during various life-threatening situations including cardiac arrest, severe blood loss, septic shock, traumatic brain injury, and near-drowning. The experiences typically emerge when the brain is deprived of oxygen and normal function ceases—a state that conventional neuroscience suggests should preclude any form of consciousness or memory formation. During cardiac arrest, consciousness is typically lost within 20-30 seconds as blood flow to the brain stops, and electrical activity becomes undetectable shortly thereafter.⁴

Despite this apparent cessation of brain function, experiencers report remarkably consistent features. Out-of-body experiences occur in approximately 75% of cases, with individuals describing floating above their physical bodies and observing medical procedures from an elevated perspective.⁵ The famous tunnel experience involves traveling through a dark passage toward a brilliant, often described as loving, light. Many report life reviews—not merely remembering but re-experiencing significant life events from multiple perspectives, including how their actions affected others. Encounters with deceased relatives or spiritual beings are common, as are overwhelming feelings of peace, unconditional love, and universal understanding.⁶

Bruce Greyson, a psychiatrist at the University of Virginia, developed the most widely used scientific tool for studying NDEs—the Greyson NDE Scale. This 16-item questionnaire, validated through extensive research and cited over 450 times in scientific literature, measures four domains of the experience: cognitive (accelerated thoughts, life review, sudden understanding), affective (feelings of peace, joy, cosmic unity), paranormal (out-of-body experiences, extrasensory perception), and transcendental (encounters with deceased persons, otherworldly realms).⁷ A score of 7 or higher out of 32 points identifies a research-qualified NDE, providing standardization crucial for scientific investigation.

Pioneering researchers and prospective studies

The scientific study of NDEs has evolved from anecdotal collection to rigorous prospective research. Pim van Lommel, a Dutch cardiologist, conducted one of the most influential studies, published in The Lancet in 2001. His team followed 344 consecutive cardiac arrest patients across 10 Dutch hospitals over four years. Of these, 62 patients (18%) reported NDEs, with 41 describing core experiences. Crucially, van Lommel found no correlation between NDE occurrence and duration of cardiac arrest, administered medications, or fear of death, though younger patients were more likely to report experiences.⁸

Van Lommel’s longitudinal follow-up at two and eight years revealed lasting positive psychological changes in NDE experiencers, including reduced death anxiety, increased spirituality, and enhanced appreciation for life.⁹ His research challenged purely physiological explanations, as all cardiac arrest patients experienced comparable oxygen deprivation and medical interventions, yet only a minority reported NDEs.

Sam Parnia’s AWARE (AWAreness during REsuscitation) studies represent the most ambitious attempts to objectively verify NDE claims. The AWARE I study (2008-2014) involved 2,060 cardiac arrests across 15 hospitals worldwide. While only 9% of the 140 survivors interviewed reported experiences meeting NDE criteria, one case provided verified accurate recall of events during cardiac arrest.¹⁰ The recently completed AWARE II study introduced real-time EEG monitoring and documented brain electrical activity consistent with consciousness up to an hour into CPR—findings that challenge conventional understanding of brain function during clinical death.¹¹

Kenneth Ring’s contributions extended beyond documentation to transformation research. His studies revealed that NDErs undergo profound personality changes, including increased compassion, reduced materialism, and often enhanced intuitive or psychic sensitivities.¹² Ring proposed that NDErs might represent an evolutionary development in human consciousness—a controversial but intriguing hypothesis that continues to influence research directions.

The brain under siege: neurological explanations

Neuroscientists have proposed multiple mechanisms to explain NDEs through conventional brain function. Cerebral hypoxia—oxygen deprivation during cardiac arrest—triggers a cascade of neurological events that could produce NDE-like experiences. As blood flow to the brain decreases, different regions shut down at varying rates. The visual cortex’s oxygen sensitivity may explain tunnel vision as peripheral vision fails before central vision. Fighter pilots experiencing G-force-induced loss of consciousness report remarkably similar phenomena, including tunnel vision, out-of-body sensations, and euphoria.¹³

The dying brain releases a flood of neurochemicals. Beta-endorphins, natural opioids significantly more potent than morphine, surge during extreme stress, potentially explaining the profound peace and absence of pain reported during NDEs.¹⁴ Neurotransmitter dysregulation—including noradrenaline from the brain’s stress center, dopamine fluctuations that can cause hallucinations, and disrupted GABA inhibitory systems—creates conditions for altered consciousness.¹⁵

Perhaps most intriguingly, recent research by Jimo Borjigin at the University of Michigan documented dramatic gamma wave surges in both rat and human brains during cardiac arrest. These high-frequency brain waves, associated with consciousness and cognitive processing, actually exceeded levels seen during normal waking states. In human studies, this surge of organized electrical activity lasted 30 seconds to 2 minutes after breathing stopped, potentially representing the brain’s final conscious processing as it shuts down.¹⁶

Neurologist Kevin Nelson proposed that NDEs result from REM sleep intrusion into waking consciousness. His research found that NDE experiencers showed 2.8 times higher rates of REM intrusion phenomena throughout their lives, suggesting a predisposition to blended consciousness states. During crisis, the vagus nerve may trigger REM-like states, producing the vivid imagery, muscular atonia (potentially explaining floating sensations), and emotional intensity characteristic of both REM sleep and NDEs.¹⁷

The temporal lobe connection provides another compelling explanation. Electrical stimulation of the temporal lobe, particularly the temporoparietal junction, can reliably produce out-of-body experiences, mystical feelings, and life review phenomena. Neurosurgeon Wilder Penfield first demonstrated this in the 1950s, and modern researchers like Olaf Blanke have refined these findings.¹⁸ Studies show that 21.7% of NDE experiencers display temporal lobe epileptiform activity compared to 5% of controls, suggesting a neurological substrate for these experiences.¹⁹

The DMT hypothesis and consciousness chemistry

Rick Strassman’s groundbreaking research on dimethyltryptamine (DMT) opened another avenue for understanding NDEs. His studies at the University of New Mexico—the first legal psychedelic research in America in 20 years—involved administering IV DMT to volunteers. Many reported experiences strikingly similar to NDEs: out-of-body experiences, encounters with non-human entities, profound spiritual insights, and life-changing transformations.²⁰

Strassman hypothesized that the pineal gland releases large quantities of endogenous DMT during birth, death, and mystical experiences. Recent research has both supported and challenged this theory. Studies have documented DMT-synthesizing enzymes throughout the mammalian brain, with DMT levels doubling in the visual cortex during experimentally induced cardiac arrest.²¹ However, critics like pharmacologist David Nichols argue that the pineal gland’s small size makes it unlikely to produce psychoactive quantities of DMT, and that other neurochemicals like dynorphin may be more significant.²²

Susan Blackmore’s “dying brain hypothesis” attempts to integrate multiple neurological mechanisms. She proposes that oxygen deprivation triggers systematic brain changes: endorphin release creates euphoria, temporal lobe seizure-like activity generates mystical experiences, and random neural firing accesses stored memories producing life reviews.²³ Her model elegantly explains many NDE features through known neurological processes, though critics argue it fails to account for veridical perceptions and the organized, meaningful nature of experiences during apparent brain dysfunction.

Veridical perception: the challenge to materialism

While neurological explanations offer compelling mechanisms for many NDE features, veridical perception cases—where individuals accurately report events occurring while clinically dead—present significant challenges to purely materialist interpretations. The Pam Reynolds case remains the gold standard for medical documentation. During her “standstill” operation, with her body temperature at 60°F, heart stopped, and brain waves absent, Reynolds accurately described the appearance of the bone saw (which she compared to an electric toothbrush), reported specific conversations between medical staff about her arteries being too small, and detailed the operating room layout.²⁴

Multiple independent witnesses verified these observations. Cardiologist Michael Sabom obtained medical records confirming the accuracy of Reynolds’ reports. The surgeon, Robert Spetzler, stated that what she related immediately after surgery was “remarkably precise.”²⁵ Critics like anesthesiologist Gerald Woerlee argue Reynolds retained hearing capacity during surgery, though this fails to explain her visual descriptions or the timing of observations during documented brain inactivity.²⁶

The case of Maria’s shoe, reported by social worker Kimberly Clark Sharp, provides another compelling example. Following cardiac arrest, Maria described seeing a worn tennis shoe on a third-floor window ledge, providing specific details about the shoelace position and wear patterns only visible from outside the building. Sharp’s subsequent discovery of the shoe exactly as described suggests perception beyond normal sensory capabilities.²⁷

Hidden target studies designed to objectively test veridical claims have yielded mixed results. The AWARE studies placed images on high shelves in cardiac care units, hoping patients reporting out-of-body experiences would see them. However, most cardiac arrests occurred in rooms without targets, and the few applicable cases didn’t report looking upward.²⁸ This methodology’s limitations highlight the challenge of studying spontaneous, unpredictable phenomena under controlled conditions.

Cultural landscapes and historical echoes

Cross-cultural research reveals both universal and culturally specific NDE features. Anthropologist Allan Kellehear’s studies found that while out-of-body experiences and encounters with deceased persons appear globally, tunnel experiences and life reviews show significant cultural variation. Western NDErs frequently report tunnels and life reviews, while these elements appear rarely in non-Western accounts. Religious figures encountered during NDEs typically match the experiencer’s cultural background—Christians meet Jesus, Hindus encounter Yama, Buddhists describe Buddha-like beings.²⁹

Historical analysis by religious studies scholar Carol Zaleski documented remarkable consistency between medieval otherworld visions and modern NDEs. However, medieval accounts commonly included judgment scenes and hellish punishments largely absent from contemporary reports.³⁰ This temporal shift might reflect changing cultural attitudes toward death and afterlife, or potentially different selection biases in reported cases.

Ancient accounts provide fascinating parallels. Plato’s “Myth of Er” from The Republic describes a soldier who returned from death reporting an out-of-body journey, encounters with judges of the dead, and observations of souls choosing future lives.³¹ The account includes transformation—Er returned with a mission to share his experience with humanity. Similar narratives appear across cultures: Plutarch’s first-century accounts, Tibetan Buddhist death practices, and indigenous shamanic traditions all describe comparable phenomena.³²

This historical and cultural evidence suggests NDEs represent a fundamental human experience interpreted through available cultural frameworks rather than purely culturally constructed phenomena. The question remains whether universal elements reflect common brain architecture, as materialists argue, or point toward objective spiritual realities, as many experiencers believe.

Psychological dimensions and lasting transformations

From a psychological perspective, NDEs present complex interpretative challenges. Bruce Greyson’s research found that NDErs score higher on dissociation scales than controls, though within normal ranges. This elevation might represent a consequence rather than cause of the experience.³³ The dissociation hypothesis—that NDEs represent defensive psychological mechanisms against death anxiety—fails to explain why experiencers typically show dramatically reduced death anxiety afterward.

The expectation hypothesis suggests cultural conditioning shapes NDE content, yet numerous cases contradict experiencers’ prior beliefs. Children too young for significant cultural conditioning report detailed NDEs. Atheists describe spiritual encounters, and individuals encounter religious figures outside their tradition.³⁴ These anomalies suggest experiences cannot be reduced entirely to psychological projection.

The transformative aftereffects of NDEs prove remarkably consistent across cultures and persist over time. Kenneth Ring’s longitudinal studies documented increased compassion, reduced materialism, enhanced environmental concern, and often difficult relationship adjustments as partners struggle to understand the experiencer’s changed priorities.³⁵ Many experiencers report enhanced intuitive abilities, precognitive dreams, and healing capabilities—claims that remain controversial but persistent.

Integration challenges can be significant. Greyson’s research found elevated PTSD symptoms in NDErs compared to other cardiac arrest survivors, though not reaching clinical levels. The profile differs from typical PTSD—experiencers show intrusive thoughts and dreams about their NDEs but actively seek rather than avoid reminders.³⁶ Many struggle with existential questions: Why did I return? What is my purpose? How do I live with this knowledge?

Consciousness studies and related phenomena

NDEs intersect with broader consciousness research through several related phenomena. Shared death experiences, where healthy individuals report experiencing aspects of another’s death transition, challenge explanations based solely on dying brain physiology. Raymond Moody documented cases where family members report out-of-body experiences, encountering the same deceased relatives, or experiencing the dying person’s life review—phenomena difficult to explain through conventional models.³⁷

Terminal lucidity—the unexpected return of mental clarity in severely cognitively impaired patients shortly before death—suggests consciousness might operate independently of brain structure. Patients with advanced Alzheimer’s, brain tumors, or severe psychiatric illness sometimes experience hours or days of restored cognitive function, reconnecting meaningfully with family before dying.³⁸ This challenges materialist assumptions that consciousness directly correlates with brain integrity.

The relationship between NDEs and altered consciousness states induced by psychedelics, particularly DMT and ketamine, provides another research avenue. While phenomenological similarities exist, experienced researchers note qualitative differences. Psychedelic experiences often include more bizarre, fractured narratives compared to the coherent, meaningful structure of NDEs. The life-changing aftereffects also differ in character and persistence.³⁹

The skeptical challenge and recent controversies

Skeptical arguments remain robust and multifaceted. Keith Augustine’s comprehensive critiques highlight methodological problems: selection bias in reported cases, memory reconstruction over time, and the difficulty of determining when experiences occur relative to brain states.⁴⁰ He argues that no veridical perception case withstands rigorous scrutiny, with alternative explanations available for each celebrated example.

Gerald Woerlee provides detailed physiological explanations for specific cases, arguing that anesthesia awareness, residual brain function, and reconstructed memories explain seemingly inexplicable perceptions.⁴¹ His analysis of the Reynolds case proposes that her observations occurred during periods of partial consciousness rather than complete brain inactivity.

Recent developments have both advanced and complicated the field. The COVID-19 pandemic produced new NDE reports from patients surviving severe respiratory failure and medically induced comas. These cases showed typical NDE features, suggesting the phenomenon persists across different medical contexts.⁴² However, methodological criticisms have intensified. A 2025 Nature Reviews Neurology commentary highlighted that only 9% of NDE studies meet quality criteria for medical research, with persistent problems in definition, measurement, and interpretation.⁴³

The 2023 AWARE II study results disappointed those hoping for definitive veridical perception proof. While documenting continued brain activity during cardiac arrest longer than previously thought possible, no participants successfully identified hidden visual targets.⁴⁴ Critics argue this failure undermines claims of functioning consciousness during clinical death, while proponents note the methodological limitations of target studies.

Understanding consciousness at the threshold

The study of near-death experiences stands at a critical juncture. Advances in neuroscience provide increasingly sophisticated explanations for NDE phenomena through brain chemistry, temporal lobe activity, and consciousness-related neural networks. The discovery of organized gamma wave activity during cardiac arrest offers a potential bridge between subjective experiences and measurable brain function.⁴⁵ Yet veridical perception cases, however rare and controversial, continue to challenge purely reductionist explanations.

The field faces persistent methodological challenges. Creating prospective studies with adequate controls remains difficult given the unpredictable nature of near-death events. Cultural and religious factors complicate interpretation, while the profound personal significance of NDEs can bias both experiencer reports and researcher approaches. The recent systematic review finding only five “good quality” studies among 54 analyzed underscores the need for methodological improvement.⁴⁶

Perhaps most significantly, NDEs force confrontation with fundamental questions about consciousness, its relationship to the brain, and possibilities for its continuation beyond physical death. Whether interpreted through neurological, psychological, or spiritual frameworks, these experiences profoundly impact those who have them, consistently producing lasting positive transformations including reduced death anxiety, increased altruism, and spiritual awakening.⁴⁷

As research continues with improved monitoring technology and larger sample sizes, the phenomenon of near-death experiences remains a frontier where neuroscience, psychology, philosophy, and human meaning converge. The experiences challenge us to expand our understanding of consciousness while remaining rigorously scientific in our approach. Whether NDEs ultimately prove to be magnificent creations of the dying brain or glimpses into continued consciousness beyond physical death, they offer profound insights into the nature of human experience at the boundary between life and death. In studying how consciousness behaves at this ultimate threshold, we may discover fundamental truths about the nature of awareness itself and what it means to be human.

The ongoing investigation of near-death experiences exemplifies science at its best—confronting anomalous data with intellectual honesty, methodological rigor, and openness to paradigm-challenging discoveries. As technology advances and research methods improve, the field stands poised for breakthroughs that could fundamentally alter our understanding of consciousness, death, and the possibility of transcendent human experiences. Whether these breakthroughs confirm or challenge current scientific paradigms, the journey of discovery promises to illuminate some of humanity’s most profound questions.

Check out the Near Death Experience Foundation “Where Science and Spirituality come together.5300 Experiences from all over the world in many languages“

Notes

1. Michael Sabom, Light and Death: One Doctor’s Fascinating Account of Near-Death Experiences (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1998), 37-52; Robert Spetzler, “Pam Reynolds Near-Death Experience,” interview, BBC Documentary, 2002.
2. Pim van Lommel et al., “Near-death experience in survivors of cardiac arrest: a prospective study in the Netherlands,” The Lancet 358, no. 9298 (2001): 2039-2045.
3. Raymond Moody, Life After Life (New York: Bantam Books, 1975), 21-23.
4. Sam Parnia et al., “AWARE—AWAreness during REsuscitation—A prospective study,” Resuscitation 85, no. 12 (2014): 1799-1805.
5. Bruce Greyson, “Near-Death Experiences: Evidence for their Reality,” Missouri Medicine 111, no. 5 (2014): 372-380.
6. Kenneth Ring, Life at Death: A Scientific Investigation of the Near-Death Experience (New York: Coward, McCann & Geoghegan, 1980), 32-48.
7. Bruce Greyson, “The Near-Death Experience Scale: Construction, Reliability, and Validity,” Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease 171, no. 6 (1983): 369-375.
8. van Lommel et al., “Near-death experience,” 2039-2045.
9. Pim van Lommel, “Getting Comfortable With Near-Death Experiences: Dutch Prospective Research on Near-Death Experiences During Cardiac Arrest,” Missouri Medicine 111, no. 2 (2014): 126-134.
10. Parnia et al., “AWARE—AWAreness during REsuscitation,” 1799-1805.
11. Sam Parnia et al., “AWAreness during REsuscitation – II: A multi-center study of consciousness and awareness in cardiac arrest,” Resuscitation 191 (2023): 109903.
12. Kenneth Ring, Heading Toward Omega: In Search of the Meaning of the Near-Death Experience (New York: William Morrow, 1984), 141-157.
13. Kevin Nelson, The Neurological Basis of Near-Death Experiences (Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 2011), 78-92.
14. Charlotte Martial et al., “A neuroscientific model of near-death experiences,” Nature Reviews Neurology 21 (2025): 123-134.
15. Susan Blackmore, Dying to Live: Near-Death Experiences (Buffalo, NY: Prometheus Books, 1993), 67-89.
16. Jimo Borjigin et al., “Surge of neurophysiological coupling and connectivity of gamma oscillations in the dying human brain,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 120, no. 19 (2023): e2216268120.
17. Kevin Nelson, “Does the arousal system contribute to near death experience?” Neurology 66, no. 7 (2006): 1003-1009.
18. Olaf Blanke et al., “Near-Death Experiences and the Temporal Lobe,” Psychological Science 15, no. 4 (2004): 243-250.
19. Melvin Morse et al., “Childhood Near-Death Experiences,” American Journal of Diseases of Children 140, no. 11 (1986): 1110-1114.
20. Rick Strassman, DMT: The Spirit Molecule: A Doctor’s Revolutionary Research into the Biology of Near-Death and Mystical Experiences (Rochester, VT: Park Street Press, 2001), 142-187.
21. Jon Dean et al., “Biosynthesis and Extracellular Concentrations of N,N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT) in Mammalian Brain,” Scientific Reports 9 (2019): 9333.
22. David Nichols, “N,N-dimethyltryptamine and the pineal gland: Separating fact from myth,” Journal of Psychopharmacology 32, no. 1 (2018): 30-36.
23. Blackmore, Dying to Live, 201-234.
24. Sabom, Light and Death, 37-52.
25. Spetzler, “Pam Reynolds Near-Death Experience.”
26. Gerald Woerlee, “Could Pam Reynolds Hear? A New Investigation into the Possibility of Hearing During this Famous Near-Death Experience,” Journal of Near-Death Studies 30, no. 1 (2011): 3-25.
27. Kimberly Clark Sharp, After the Light: What I Discovered on the Other Side of Life That Can Change Your World (New York: William Morrow, 1995), 1-13.
28. Parnia et al., “AWARE—AWAreness during REsuscitation,” 1799-1805.
29. Allan Kellehear, “Phenomenology of Near-death Experiences: A Cross-cultural Perspective,” Transcultural Psychiatry 45, no. 1 (2008): 121-133.
30. Carol Zaleski, Otherworld Journeys: Accounts of Near-Death Experience in Medieval and Modern Times (New York: Oxford University Press, 1987), 123-189.
31. Plato, The Republic, trans. Benjamin Jowett (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1888), Book X, 614-621.
32. Gregory Shushan, Near-Death Experience in Indigenous Religions (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2018), 45-78.
33. Bruce Greyson, “Dissociation in people who have near-death experiences: out of their bodies or out of their minds?” The Lancet 355, no. 9202 (2000): 460-463.
34. Morse et al., “Childhood Near-Death Experiences,” 1110-1114.
35. Ring, Heading Toward Omega, 141-157.
36. Bruce Greyson, “The near-death experience as a focus of clinical attention,” Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease 185, no. 5 (1997): 327-334.
37. Raymond Moody, Glimpses of Eternity: Sharing a Loved One’s Passage from This Life to the Next (New York: Guideposts, 2010), 1-28.
38. Michael Nahm et al., “Terminal lucidity: A review and a case collection,” Archives of Gerontology and Geriatrics 55, no. 1 (2012): 138-142.
39. Charlotte Martial et al., “Neurochemical models of near-death experiences: A large-scale study based on the semantic similarity of written reports,” Consciousness and Cognition 69 (2019): 52-69.
40. Keith Augustine, “Hallucinatory Near-Death Experiences,” in The Myth of an Afterlife, eds. Michael Martin and Keith Augustine (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2015), 329-362.
41. Gerald Woerlee, Mortal Minds: The Biology of Near-Death Experiences (Buffalo, NY: Prometheus Books, 2003), 112-134.
42. Bruce Greyson et al., “Near-death experiences after cardiac arrest: a scoping review,” Intensive Care Medicine 49, no. 6 (2023): 651-664.
43. Charlotte Martial et al., “Perils and pitfalls of near-death experience research,” Nature Reviews Neurology 21 (2025): 67-68.
44. Parnia et al., “AWAreness during REsuscitation – II,” 109903.
45. Borjigin et al., “Surge of neurophysiological coupling,” e2216268120.
46. Emily Williams et al., “Explanation of near-death experiences: a systematic analysis of case reports and qualitative research,” Frontiers in Psychology 14 (2023): 1048929.
47. Kenneth Ring and Sharon Cooper, Mindsight: Near-Death and Out-of-Body Experiences in the Blind (Palo Alto, CA: William James Center for Consciousness Studies, 1999), 189-213.

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Borjigin, Jimo, UnCheol Lee, Tiecheng Liu, Dinesh Pal, Sean Huff, Daniel Klarr, Jennifer Sloboda, et al. “Surge of neurophysiological coupling and connectivity of gamma oscillations in the dying human brain.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 120, no. 19 (2023): e2216268120.

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———. “The Near-Death Experience Scale: Construction, Reliability, and Validity.” Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease 171, no. 6 (1983): 369-375.

———. “The near-death experience as a focus of clinical attention.” Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease 185, no. 5 (1997): 327-334.

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Martial, Charlotte, Jane Meyvis, Sam Parnia, Bruce Greyson, and Steven Laureys. “A neuroscientific model of near-death experiences.” Nature Reviews Neurology 21 (2025): 123-134.

———. “Perils and pitfalls of near-death experience research.” Nature Reviews Neurology 21 (2025): 67-68.

Moody, Raymond. Glimpses of Eternity: Sharing a Loved One’s Passage from This Life to the Next. New York: Guideposts, 2010.

———. Life After Life. New York: Bantam Books, 1975.

Morse, Melvin, Doug Conner, and Donald Tyler. “Childhood Near-Death Experiences.” American Journal of Diseases of Children 140, no. 11 (1986): 1110-1114.

Nahm, Michael, Bruce Greyson, Emily Williams Kelly, and Erlendur Haraldsson. “Terminal lucidity: A review and a case collection.” Archives of Gerontology and Geriatrics 55, no. 1 (2012): 138-142.

Nelson, Kevin. “Does the arousal system contribute to near death experience?” Neurology 66, no. 7 (2006): 1003-1009.

———. The Neurological Basis of Near-Death Experiences. Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 2011.

Nichols, David E. “N,N-dimethyltryptamine and the pineal gland: Separating fact from myth.” Journal of Psychopharmacology 32, no. 1 (2018): 30-36.

Parnia, Sam, Ken Spearpoint, Gabriele de Vos, Peter Fenwick, Diana Goldberg, Jie Yang, Jiawen Zhu, et al. “AWARE—AWAreness during REsuscitation—A prospective study.” Resuscitation 85, no. 12 (2014): 1799-1805.

Parnia, Sam, Tara Keshavarz, Meghan McMullin, and Tyler Williams. “AWAreness during REsuscitation – II: A multi-center study of consciousness and awareness in cardiac arrest.” Resuscitation 191 (2023): 109903.

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Sabom, Michael. Light and Death: One Doctor’s Fascinating Account of Near-Death Experiences. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1998.

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van Lommel, Pim. “Getting Comfortable With Near-Death Experiences: Dutch Prospective Research on Near-Death Experiences During Cardiac Arrest.” Missouri Medicine 111, no. 2 (2014): 126-134.

van Lommel, Pim, Ruud van Wees, Vincent Meyers, and Ingrid Elfferich. “Near-death experience in survivors of cardiac arrest: a prospective study in the Netherlands.” The Lancet 358, no. 9298 (2001): 2039-2045.

Williams, Emily, Bruce Greyson, and Sam Parnia. “Explanation of near-death experiences: a systematic analysis of case reports and qualitative research.” Frontiers in Psychology 14 (2023): 1048929.

Woerlee, Gerald. “Could Pam Reynolds Hear? A New Investigation into the Possibility of Hearing During this Famous Near-Death Experience.” Journal of Near-Death Studies 30, no. 1 (2011): 3-25.

———. Mortal Minds: The Biology of Near-Death Experiences. Buffalo, NY: Prometheus Books, 2003.

Zaleski, Carol. Otherworld Journeys: Accounts of Near-Death Experience in Medieval and Modern Times. New York: Oxford University Press, 1987.