When a person gets decapitated is he/she alert as to seeing their body not attached to their head?

Question

I need to know if the head can actually see their body off of their head. Eg: say the head is lying on a back seat of a car and the body is still in the drivers seat can this person see the body? Are they aware of what happened? And if so, is there pain?

Answer 1

A scary question but interesting! According to this article, it could be as long as 13 seconds. I don't think there would be pain because the spine is severed.
http://europeanhistory.about.com/library/bldyk10.htm

But still I wonder if the abrupt change in blood pressure would be enough to knock you out right away? I hope so.
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Answer 2

I would think death would be nearly instantaneous. Think about it. You'd bleed out so fast there wouldn't be time for conscious thought. I think people assume death is slow when someone is decapitated because the muscles in the face move causing the mouth to open and close, the eyes to blink, etc. All this really is, is involuntary muscle movements; the nerves and such suddenly disconnecting and confused. There is no 'thought' behind it.

Answer 3

Since brain death occurs after a couple of minutes without
blood or oxygen, and decapitation "cuts off" both the person
would probably be concious for a breif period, maybe long enough to understand what has happened before blacking out and then dying. as to pain, I don't want to find out.

Answer 4

I like all the answers, but I tend to believe the brain is blanked at the point the spinal cord is severed. I dont believe there is any conscious thought.

Agreed, great question for thought.

Answer 5

I agree with the other two answers. They probably can, but only very briefly. Very interesting question!
:]

Answer 6

i have wondered about that also,....great answers everyone !!