Can you talk after decapitation

I was not, then, dealing with a vague dull look, without any expression that can be observed any day in dying people to whom one speaks: I was dealing with undeniably living eyes which were looking at me. Garrick Alder, London The higher functions of the brain cease activity once the blood supply, and therefore oxygen transport, is interrupted.

Usually there is about 4 or 5 seconds of consciousness following the complete cessation of the circulation. This would be more than enough time for the severed head to fall into the basket and roll around a few times before blessed oblivion arrived. Perry, West Vancouver, BC, Canada The higher functions of the brain cease activity once the blood supply, and therefore oxygen transport, is interrupted.

Perry, West Vancouver, B. Applying the principles of physiology, one would expect a brief period of awareness until the brain becomes starved of oxygen. Loss of consciousness would occur after a few seconds. I seem to recall reading about a series of experiments whereby the severed heads of dead prisoners were give transfusions of animal blood, but none of the heads came to life. Perhaps somebody could provide more details?

Dr C Partridge, Manchester Absolutely. Once the blood vessels in the neck are severed, the oxygen supply is halted. Movement would only be possible in tissue or structures still attached to the head, such as muscles for moving the eyes or the mouth because the nerves supplying those muscles would still be connected. Most recently, understanding in this area of research has turned to what people who suffer death or near-death experiences are aware of when going through such events.

People who have suffered a heart attack or cardiac arrest describe events that were occurring to them, or in the room around them while undergoing resuscitation. This suggests that while their heart may not be beating, their brain is certainly aware of what is going on around them, even though they displayed none of the clinical signs of consciousness. Other studies have shown activity in the brain 30 minutes after the heart has stopped beating.

These so-called delta brain waves are also often seen in stages of sleep and relaxation. According to the report of The Conversation website, in the year , French physician Dr Gabriel Beaurieux did a unique experiment on a dead person.

Beaurieux believed that he had communicated with prisoner Henri Languille after the execution by beheading. I saw that his eyelids slowly raised, just like in normal life, when people come out of their thoughts, their eyelids rise. The study by Beaurieux surprised everyone.

Movement would only be possible in tissue or structures still attached to the head, such as muscles for moving the eyes or the mouth because the nerves supplying those muscles would still be connected. Most recently, understanding in this area of research has turned to what people who suffer death or near-death experiences are aware of when going through such events. People who have suffered a heart attack or cardiac arrest describe events that were occurring to them, or in the room around them while undergoing resuscitation.

This suggests that while their heart may not be beating, their brain is certainly aware of what is going on around them, even though they displayed none of the clinical signs of consciousness.

Other studies have shown activity in the brain 30 minutes after the heart has stopped beating. These so-called delta brain waves are also often seen in stages of sleep and relaxation. The activity detected in humans in these studies is large enough to be detected by an electroencephalogram a device measuring electrical activity in the brain.

Studies in other organisms have suggested that even hours after death, gene expression and activity is still occurring and in some cases increasing in quantity.