Scientists have discovered what happens to the brain before death

American researchers from Baylor College of Medicine have concluded that the human brain is capable of perceiving and processing complex speech even during deep anesthesia.

As reported by BAKU.WS with reference to Nature, specialists conducted a series of observations on patients during surgical operations and recorded unusual brain activity in a state of complete loss of consciousness. The obtained data call into question the widespread belief that consciousness is necessarily required for full cognitive processing of information.

During the experiment, scientists discovered that the hippocampus — a brain region associated with memory — continued to respond to speech and sound signals. The brain recognized parts of speech, including nouns, verbs, and adjectives, and also demonstrated the ability to predict subsequent words in sentences.

According to foreign experts, the research results may indicate that even in an unconscious state, the brain retains certain mechanisms of learning and information analysis.

The authors of the scientific work emphasize that additional research is needed for definitive conclusions. In the future, specialists plan to determine whether similar processes are observed during sleep, coma, and other states associated with the loss of consciousness.