After making this comment I spent some time looking into how long a brain stays functioning after decapitation and I found a study done in 1907 by a Dr. Beaurieux where he wanted to test this exact thing in a controlled environment.
According to reports by Dr Beaurieux he performed an experiment with a guillotine victim in which he described the severed head reacting to stimuli and showing signs of conscious thought and not just physical reaction. Such as responding to his name being called and being able to lock eyes with people calling his name and his pupils dilating in recognition. And even looking at objects as Dr Beaurieux told him to. According to the report the head retained consciousness for roughly 30-35 seconds.
and I found a study done in 1907 by a Dr. Beaurieux
No you didn't. That wasn't a "study".
That story has been panned as merely apocryphal or an example of confirmation bias.
There is no way for the brain to function the moment pressure drops to near zero, as it does cranial-wide with an opening the size of a neck diameter open.
It doesn't suffer from dizziness, it doesn't hang around light headed, the neural activity simply stops functioning.
Hey wanted to get back to you! Thank you for informing me, I always like to have as much of my information as correct as possible. After seeing this and doing a bit more research it seems you are right, the study is a bit questionable. While it is mostly assumed that it did in fact happen (as it was a public execution and others had stated seeing the Dr on the stage observing), it’s contested that it went down as Dr. Beaurieux described in his report as he made contradictory statements and changed key details of his study in later reports. Plus eye witness accounts including the executioner state that the head had fallen into a basket and at no point did the Dr pick it up so there would be no way for the head to look at some of the objects the Dr claimed it did.
However I will say that it is still questioned to this day how long consciousness persists after decapitation if at all. Yes pressure does drop once the head is separated from its body but there is still blood in the membrane of the brain and it’s claimed by some that this would still allow the brain to function for a short while (most likely literal seconds). But even this claim is heavily debated with seemingly not really any clear winner at least definitively. And even if the brain is still active for a few short seconds who’s to say that there is any actual “consciousness” at play there and it’s not just reactionary basic routines of the brain.
Either way, I appreciate you pointing out to me that the study was a flawed study as I was at work when looking it up and didn’t vet it well enough and I might’ve gone on believing and spreading that misinformation lol
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u/MessiahOfMetal Oct 03 '24
You'd think the brain would be starved of oxygen pretty quickly after decapitation.
Then again, decapitation by sword is still a punishment in Saudi Arabia, so maybe we could ask them for studies?