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For people who have near-death experiences (NDEs), these encounters can be so deeply moving and life-changing that language seems inadequate. Many describe them as vivid, multisensory experiences, filled with mental imagery of colors, places and people.

As words often fall short when describing these intense events, a recent study focused on mapping the geometry, movement and color of the person's visual world during NDEs rather than just analyzing words.

So, instead of verbal stories and written questionnaires, the researchers used a graphic reconstruction method in which they asked participants to draw what they saw. They reconstructed their visual surroundings step by step, showing where they felt they were positioned (self-location) and which direction they seemed to travel in (self-motion) as their experiences unfolded.

When 50 participants mapped out their experiences, they identified 112 distinct scenes, 108 of which fit into four geometric categories defined by the researchers. Type A resembled a cone or tunnel, with straight or sloping lines enclosing the visual field. Type B stretched into wide, sweeping curves resembling parts of a circle or ellipse. Types C1–C4 featured much flatter, almost level horizons, while type C5 resembled a complete sphere or bubble, enclosing the person in a 360-degree panoramic view. Each of these shape types was also associated with colors or lack thereof.

NDEs described by survivors of cardiac arrest, respiratory failure, coma, brain disorders or other situations where a person's life feels threatened can act as a window for neuroscientists and psychologists to peep into how the human mind and brain work when pushed to their limits.

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