Have you had a near-death experience? Analysis of 50 encounters reveals an uncanny pattern of shape and colour

Why some people experience startling and fantastic visions on the edge of death has baffled researchers for decades.Now, an analysis of 50 near-death experiences has revealed that these encounters have an uncanny pattern.An international team of researchers asked people who had nearly died to draw maps of the spaces they recalled from their brush with death.Intriguingly, the geometry of those spaces seemed to be intimately linked with the colours people recalled seeing.Despite their wildly different content and often strange visions, the researchers found that the geometry of near-death experiences fell into four broad categories.Many participants travelled through conical spaces, including the classic tunnel of light.Others reported curved spaces like archways, flatter, more gently curving spaces, and round or oval spaces that seemed to completely surround the observer.People who described seeing cones were much more likely to see black and white shapes, while people who saw archways almost always reported colour. An analysis of 50 near-death experiences has revealed that these encounters have an uncanny pattern of shapes and colour. Pictured: A participant's map of their near-death experience Of the 28 people who reported travelling through conical space, like the classic tunnel of light (stock image), 22 said that these were black and white This could suggest the different types of near-death experiences have shared physical causes that could be linked to more well-understood visual disturbances.Although near-death experiences are extremely well-reported, with some surveys suggesting that up to eight per cent of people have had one, they are notoriously hard to study scientifically. The most common features of near-death experiencesPeacefulness (80%)Seeing a bright light (69%)Encountering with spirits/people (64%)Speeding thoughts (5%)Precognitive visions (4%)This is because, as you might expect, near-death experiences often occur alongside massively traumatic or highly emotional experiences.The experience itself is often extremely powerful, and many people struggle to put it into words or explain coherent details.The challenge this presents to researchers trying to make sense of the phenomenon is abundantly clear from the written reports the researchers collected alongside their maps.One participant told the researchers: 'It was like a matrix, with many, many grid points, all connecting to each other in multiple dimensions. I felt that if I entered the matrix, I would be able to travel anywhere in the entire universe.'Another explained that they saw 'the past, present, and future of Earth'.To make sense of all of this, the researchers focused only on the geometric shape of the space people reported being in.They asked the participants to break their experience into separate stages, then represent the shape of each space they recalled.The participants were also asked to indicate where they were in that space, how they moved through it, and any colours they saw. An international team of researchers asked people who had nearly died to draw maps of the spaces they recalled from their brush with death (pictured) and note how they moved through them The fact that tunnels of light were almost always black and white could hint at a common physical cause, although researchers aren't yet sure what that would beThis revealed that, despite the fantastical descriptions, almost all of the near-death experiences followed a predictable pattern of shape and colour.Of the 28 conical spaces reconstructed by participants, 22 were completely black and white.Meanwhile, 27 of the 31 broad, curved spaces were seen in bright colours.Although the researchers say that this is not the main focus of their paper, published in Frontiers in Psychology, this could help to explain why people have such striking visions.Most interestingly, the researchers noted that there are some striking similarities between these patterns and known visual disturbances that happen during normal life.For example, a reduced supply of oxygen to the brain or eyes can restrict the field of view, leading to tunnel vision, which is remarkably similar to the 'tunnel of light' described in near-death experiences.Likewise, under dim conditions our eyes naturally become less sensitive to colour as the low-light cells take over from those responsible for seeing colour.Meanwhile, the broad, expansive spaces described by some participants might be related to a phenomenon called the Ganzfeld effect.When presented with a blank visual field, this effect can lead to surprisingly vivid visual hallucinations as the brain tries to fill in the apparent absence of information.However, the researchers note that these similarities still don't prove what caused the near-death experience visions.WHAT DOES DYING FEEL LIKE?Scientists reported in October 2017 that they had discovered a person's consciousness continues to work after the body has stopped showing signs of life.That means they may be aware of their own death and there is evidence to suggest someone who has died may even hear their own death being announced by medics.A team from New York University Langone School of Medicine investigated the topic through twin studies in Europe and the US of people who have suffered cardiac arrest and 'come back' to life, in the largest study of its kind.Study author Dr Sam Parnia told Live Science: 'They'll describe watching doctors and nurses working and they'll describe having awareness of full conversations, of visual things that were going on, that would otherwise not be known to them.'He said these recollections were then verified by medical and nursing staff who reported their patients, who were technically dead, could remember details of what they were saying.Doctors define death based on when the heart no longer beats, which then immediately cuts off blood supply to the brain.Once that happens, blood no longer circulates to the brain, which means brain function halts almost instantaneously.You lose all your brain stem reflexes, including your gag reflex and your pupil reflex.The brain's cerebral cortex, which is responsible for thinking and processing information from the five senses, also instantly flatlines.This means that within two to 20 seconds, no brainwaves will be detected on an electric monitor.This sparks a chain reaction of cellular processes that will result in the death of brain cells. However this can take hours after the heart has stopped, researchers said.