Research on those who have had "near death" experiences suggests that the phenomenon rarely involves flashbacks in chronological order, as happens in Hollywood films.
Participants said that there was rarely any order to their life memories and that they seemed to come at random, and sometimes simultaneously.
Often, the mind played tricks - with people reliving their own experiences from the point of view of others who had been involved.
The study found that many of the flashbacks involved intensely emotional moments.
Researchers from Hadassah University in Jerusalem analyzed seven accounts of such experiences, obtained from in-depth interviews.
These were to devise a questionnaire which was sent out to 264 other people who gave detailed responses of their experiences.
The idea that life flashes in front of a person has featured in countless works of literature and film.
But there has been limited research to explain what the phenomenon involves.
Researchers said the new study shines a light on "a most intriguing mental phenomenon that fascinated humans from time immemorial" - which they coined "life review experience" (LRE)....read more>>>...
