How near-death experiences arise in the brain

大脑是如何产生濒死体验的

Researchers put forward a comprehensive model outlining the conditions that may give rise to the vivid mental phenomena that some people experience as they near death

研究人员提出了一套综合模型，试图解释为何人在濒临死亡时会产生如此生动的精神现象

Everyone dies, but what actually transpires during that process is a deep mystery that scientists are only beginning to seriously investigate.

死亡是所有人的归宿，但在死亡的过程中究竟发生了什么，仍然是一个深奥的谜题，科学家们才刚刚开始认真探索。

Increasingly, near-death experiences, or NDEs, are part of that growing field.

而濒死体验（NDEs）正逐渐成为这一新兴研究领域的重要课题。

An incredible 5 to 10 percent of the general population reports memories of an NDE.

令人惊讶的是，约5%至10%的人声称自己拥有濒死体验的记忆。

Oftentimes, people’s recollections are similar: perceiving separation from the body and viewing it from above, passing through a tunnel and seeing a light, encountering deceased loved ones or compassionate entities and being overcome by ineffable wisdom and a feeling of profound peacefulness.

这些回忆往往高度相似：感到灵魂脱离躯壳，升到上空俯瞰自己的身体，然后穿过一条隧道看到一束光芒，遇见已故的亲人或某种慈悲的存在（译者注：compassionate entities 通常指的是一些超自然的或灵性上的存在，可能是神灵、天使、守护灵或其他具备慈悲、同情的人物或力量），同时被难以言喻的智慧与深沉的平静感包围。

Many people describe these memories in crisp detail and say that they felt “more real than real.”

许多人能以极为清晰的细节描述出这些记忆，并称其感受“比现实还要真实”。

How a person’s faltering consciousness produces such fantastical experiences is unknown.

人类（濒临死亡）意识逐渐衰退时为何能产生如此奇幻的体验？这至今仍是未解之谜。

But scientists have been piecing together hypotheses, constructed from interviews with survivors, studies in animals and experiments in which people were given certain psychedelic drugs.