The key facts
- Of the 28 described 'tunnels,' 22 lacked vivid colors; of 31 wide spaces, 27 were remembered in color
- The study is based on the memories of 50 people; an average of about 15 years had passed since the experience
- The authors emphasize: the study does not explain the origin of near-death experiences
What the researchers found
A team from the University of Haifa led by Frans Lerner studied the memories of 50 volunteers who had survived near-death experiences. Participants were asked not only to describe what they had experienced but also to reconstruct the shape of the spaces: they chose geometric schemes, supplemented them with drawings if necessary, and separately indicated colors. The results were published in the journal Frontiers in Psychology.
Tunnels without color, spaces in color
The most noticeable difference concerned two types of visions. Of the 28 described spaces resembling a tunnel, 22 turned out to lack vivid colors: participants recalled darkness, gray shades, white radiance, or light without a definite color. In descriptions of wide spaces with curved boundaries, the picture was different — in 27 out of 31 cases, the volunteers spoke of colorful landscapes, including pink lighting, green hills, and orange ground.
Possible explanations and limitations
The authors suggest a connection between some features of the visions and the workings of the visual system: with a lack of oxygen, the visual field can narrow; in dim lighting, a person distinguishes colors worse; and memories of uniform radiance were compared with the Ganzfeld effect, when the visual field seems devoid of clear landmarks. At the same time, the researchers emphasized that the study does not explain the origin of near-death experiences. The limitations are significant: the sample was small, an average of about 15 years had passed since the experience in a typical case, and the schemes offered to participants could have influenced their answers.
A different point of view
In October, forensic medicine physician Sergey Gavrilov offered Life.ru a different version: the content of visions during clinical death may depend on personal experience — in a critical state, the brain is capable of reproducing emotionally significant images, such as the faces of loved ones or familiar scenes. This is the opinion of a specialist, not a conclusion of the Israeli study; the two works examine different aspects of the phenomenon and do not directly contradict each other.
