Posted: May 21, 2014 3:29 pm
Animavore wrote:Funny that this thread should come back from the dead just as I'm talking about Parnia open another forum. Are there any papers pertaining to DMT being produced in the brain, David?
Yes. There's a 1987 one referenced here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Near_death_experience#Biological_analysis_and_theories
Of course, there was also contradictory work, such as this:
Note, however, that the speaker is talking about the circumstances of "no neural activity whatsoever", so that would rule out hallucinations to start with, DMT-related or not! He is surely describing the circumstances under which the subject would have no consciousness whatseoever, regardless of whether it connected to the outside world or was internally generated.
BTW, I don't think actual DMT, as such, would necessarily be the culprit, only a DMT-like, methylated aromatic compound.