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Unknowable: Guillotined persons may remain conscious long enough to blink.

Observers of guillotined people noticed facial contortions after beheading. Does this mean that the victim remained aware of his/her bodiless condition? Theoretical arguments for include timing of asphyxiation; arguments against point to spinal shock, which leads to instant unconciousness, and note that reflex movements could cause the blinks and contortions. Observers in 1886 found that "not a trace of consciousness remains two seconds after beheading". References: Regnard and Loye in Proges Medical, July 9th 1886, quoted in BMJ [British Medical Journal] 294:474 (February 1987); The Straight Dope, by Cecil Adams (Chicago Review Press, Chicago, 1984).

References:

• http://tafkac.org/medical/decapitated_head_blinking.html