Déjà vu: What is Déjà Vu? What Causes Déjà vu?

Well, it happened that you took shelter in a tent in a heavy rain in a brand new place. Or suppose think you go on a tour somewhere and you sit comfortably and read a book with tea in hand. Suddenly you feel like you have been stuck in the rain in the same place before, or sitting in the same place reading a book with tea, but in reality you have no recollection of ever having done such a thing before? But the events are so familiar that you’re desperately trying to remember. Yes, this is Déjà vu effect. Let’s talk about Déjà vu today.

Déjà vu happens to all of us more or less. This French loanword expressing the feeling that one has lived through the present situation before. The expression “sensation de déjà-vu” (sensation of déjà vu) was coined in 1876 by the French philosopher Émile Boirac. It is an anomaly of memory whereby, despite the strong sense of recollection, the time, place, and practical context of the “previous” experience are uncertain or believed to be impossible. According to research, Déjà vu happens daily with 70% of people worldwide. Compared to other people, people between the ages of 15 and 25 have the highest incidence of such incidents. It is not a disease, it can happend with a healthy man daily. Now, a question does not arise in your mind what causes déjà vu?

What Causes Déjà vu?

Because it occurs without warning and often in people without underlying health concerns So there is a lot of speculation.

According to parapsychologists, Memory gets stored in the temporal lobe of the brain. This part of the brain helps us recognize familiar experiences. While science has yet to prove that everyday déjà vu experiences are a result of memories stored in the temporal area, some researchers believe there is a connection between the two.

One experiment done to test the theory that links déjà vu to memory involved creating virtual reality scenarios based on the world of the video game Sims. Many who participated in the project ended up having various déjà vu experiences tied to scenes resembling similar ones viewed earlier. Some people often feel that déjà vu may help them predict a future event. But the experiment found that individuals didn’t become more likely to guess the correct path or come up with more accurate answers while playing out the virtual reality scenarios. More research is being done to try to figure out exactly why people have feelings of déjà vu.

Explanations

Due to the advances in neuroimaging at present, scientists have attempted to explain this in three theories.

Split perception

The theory of split perception suggests déjà vu happens when you see something two different times.

The first time you see something, you might take it in out of the corner of your eye or while distracted.

Your brain can begin forming a memory of what you see even with the limited amount of information you get from a brief, incomplete glance. So, you might actually take in more than you realize.

If your first view of something, like the view from a hillside, didn’t involve your complete attention, you might believe you’re seeing it for the first time.

In other words, since you didn’t give the experience your full attention the first time it entered your perception, it feels like two different events. But it’s really just one continued perception of the same event.

Memory recall

Many experts believe déjà vu has to do with the way you process and recall memories.

Research conducted by Anne Cleary, a déjà vu researcher and psychology professor at Colorado State University, has helped generate some support for this theory.

Through her work, she’s found evidence to suggest déjà vu can happen in response to an event that resembles something you’ve experienced but don’t remember.

Maybe it happened in childhood, or you can’t recall it for some other reason. This process of implicit memory leads to the somewhat odd feeling of familiarity. If you could recall the similar memory, you’d be able to link the two and likely wouldn’t experience déjà vu at all.

This commonly happens, according to Cleary, when you see a particular scene, like the inside of a building or a natural panorama, that’s very similar to one you don’t remember.

She used this finding to explore the idea of premonition associated with déjà vu in a 2018 study.

You may have experienced this yourself. Many people report that déjà vu experiences trigger a strong conviction of knowing what’s going to happen next.

But Cleary’s research suggests that even if you feel certain you can predict what you’re about to see or experience, you generally can’t.

Further research may help better explain this prediction phenomenon, and déjà vu in general.

This theory rests on the idea that people tend to experience feelings of familiarity when they encounter a scene that shares similarities with something they’ve seen before.

Here’s an example of Gestalt familiarity: It’s your first day at a new job. As you walk into your office, you’re immediately taken aback by the overwhelming feeling you’ve been here before.

The reddish wood of the desk, the scenic calendar on the wall, the plant in the corner, the light spilling in from the window — it all feels incredibly familiar to you.

If you’ve ever walked into a room with a similar layout and placement of furniture, chances are good you’re experiencing déjà vu because you have some memory of that room but can’t quite place it.

Instead, you just feel as if you’ve seen the new office already, even though you haven’t.

Cleary also explored this theory. Her researchTrusted Source suggests people do seem to experience déjà vu more often when viewing scenes similar to things they’ve already seen but don’t remember.

Dream-based explanation

Dreams can also be used to explain the experience of déjà vu, and they are related in three different aspects. Firstly, some déjà vu experiences duplicate the situation in dreams instead of waking conditions, according to the survey done by Brown (2004). Twenty percent of the respondents reported their déjà vu experiences were from dreams and 40% of the respondents reported from both reality and dreams. Secondly, people may experience déjà vu because some elements in their remembered dreams were shown. Research done by Zuger (1966) supported this idea by investigating the relationship between remembered dreams and déjà vu experiences, and suggested that there is a strong correlation. Thirdly, people may experience déjà vu during a dream state, which links déjà vu with dream frequency.

Other explanations

Other theories include physicist and co-founder of string theory Michio kaku.
According to him, Déjà vu is related to time travel. Déjà vu is a repeat of what happened to us at another universe.

The Bottom Line About Deja Vu

Many people have experienced or will experience the feeling of having been somewhere or experienced a situation before. In many cases, it’s fleeting and goes away quickly — and that’s that. But it can be a sign of something more serious — such as epilepsy — if you have other symptoms that accompany déjà vu.

More often, though, it just means you might need to get a little more sleep or participate in an activity that can help lower your stress levels.

SOURCE: Wikipedia, University of Pennsylvania, WebMD, Youtube, Healthline