Déjà vu

: This article is about déjà vu, the psychological phenomenon.

Scientific research

In recent years, déjà vu has been subjected to serious psychological and neurophysiological research. The most likely candidate for explanation, according to scientists in these fields, is that déjà vu is not an act of "precognition" or "prophecy" but is actually an anomaly of memory; it is the impression that an experience is "being recalled" which is false. This is substantiated to an extent by the fact that in most cases the sense of "recollection" at the time is strong, but any circumstances of the "previous" experience (when, where and how the earlier experience occurred) are quite uncertain. Likewise, as time passes, subjects can exhibit a strong recollection of having the "unsettling" experience of déjà vu itself, but little to no recollection of the specifics of the event(s) or circumstances they were "remembering" when they had the déjà vu experience, and in particular, this may result from an overlap between the neurological systems responsible for short-term memory (events which are perceived as being in the present) and those responsible for long-term memory (events which are perceived as being in the past).

Related Topics:
Short-term memory - Long-term memory

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Links with disorders

A clinical correlation has been found between the experience of déjà vu and disorders such as schizophrenia and anxiety, and the likelihood of the experience increases considerably with subjects having these conditions. However, the strongest pathological association of déjà vu is with temporal lobe epilepsy. This correlation has led some researchers to speculate that the experience of déjà vu is possibly a neurological anomaly related to improper electrical discharge in the brain. As most people suffer a mild (ie. non-pathological) epileptic episode regularly (eg. the sudden "jolt", a hypnagogic jerk, that frequently occurs just prior to falling asleep), it is conjectured that a similar (mild) neurological aberration occurs in the experience of déjà vu, resulting in an erroneous "memory".

Related Topics:
Schizophrenia - Anxiety - Epilepsy - Neurological - Hypnagogic jerk

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Parapsychology

Déjà vu is associated with precognition, clairvoyance or extra-sensory perceptions, and it is frequently cited as evidence for "psychic" abilities in the general population. Non-scientific explanations attribute the experience to a "prophecy" or "vision" (most commonly delivered via a dream), or alternatively to an experience had in a past life related to a reincarnation.

Related Topics:
Precognition - Clairvoyance - Extra-sensory perception - Psychic - Prophecy - Reincarnation

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Dreams

One idea for the cause of déjà vu stems from dreams. The vast majority of dreams are never remembered because they do not enter the long term memory. However, it has been shown that a dreaming person can display activity in the areas where the processing of long term memories takes place. The cause for this observation is believed to be when a dream bypasses our short term memory and is placed in the long term. Dreams also have the quality whereby they are not limited by restrictions such as time or space. Therefore, if even a small amount of all the dreams a person has in their life are placed in their long term memory, déjà vu could be the result of recalling a dream. This would also explain why a person does not recall where or when the original event of the déjà vu happened, only that it did occur.

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