Near death, explained

[cosmicaug]

47. "Random" works on what is already there. Self interprets.

If it were random firings, you'd expect things with vast association networks in your mind to be preferentially triggered (because they have more connections). That would make it more likely to be people who are immensely significant to the person experiencing an NDE, such as loved ones, rather than historical figures. So you might expect people who are alive and directly known to the person rather than historical figures.

The other aspect of it is that if the brain will try to make sense of random stimuli (whether external or internal) such as in dreams. If one is under the impression that one is dead or dying one may very well use that as a reality filter and selectively interpret these random firings as dead relatives.