Why do we have déjà vu and jamais vu?
Key Takeaways:
- Déjà vu comes from the French language and means “already seen”. Déjà vu is the feeling that what you are seeing or experiencing at a certain moment has already happened to you before, but you know that indeed it hasn’t.
- Jamais vu is translated from French as “never seen” and is the opposite of déjà vu. It refers to the state when things you know well seem very unusual and unfamiliar.
- These phenomena aren’t researched enough yet, but scientists do have some theories on their appearances.
- Déjà vu might be triggered by the unconscious perception of realities that a person may later encounter, a minor memory from the past that is similar to the current situation, incorrect coding of perceived information by the brain, and subliminal projection of memories from books or movies onto one’s own reality.
- Jamais vu may potentially be caused by a change in the coordination of brain areas responsible for memory and perception of the environment. It is also associated with fatigue, lack of sleep, stress, and certain neurological conditions.
Do you sometimes have very strange or even intimidating feelings of familiarity with or, vice versa, alienation from something?
For example, have you ever walked around a new city and felt like you recognize every nook and corner there, or while talking to your friends you feel like you’ve already had this conversation? Or perhaps, on the contrary, the facial features of a person you know well seemed unfamiliar, or a usual word didn’t look right?
If so, then these somewhat eerie phenomena you’ve got through are known as déjà vu and jamais vu. Might sound weird but there is no need to worry. They are considered to be normal occasional conditions. So, let’s try to unveil these mysteries.
What is déjà vu?
Déjà vu comes from the French language and means “already seen”. Except for this, there are variations such as déjà vécu — “already experienced”, déjà senti — “already thought”, déjà visité — “already visited”, déjà entendu — “already heard”, and some others. All of these denote the odd feeling that the events taking place at a certain moment are calling to some previous episodes, i.e., they have already been experienced in the past. At the same time, the person has no logical justification for this, yet they have no doubt this has not happened to them before.
This phenomenon is surprisingly not uncommon. About 60 percent of the population report having experienced some type of déjà vu. A sight, sound, taste, or even smell makes us believe that it must have occurred some time ago, even though we are sure it has not. According to researchers, déjà vu lasts only 10 to 30 seconds, and the highest proportion of such incidents appears among people aged 15 to 25 compared to any other age group. The latter may be because déjà vu is related to memory processes that deteriorate over the years. Most cases of déjà vu have also been reported among people with higher incomes, those who travel more, and those with higher levels of education. An active imagination and the ability to recall dreams are also shared features among people who face déjà vu.
What is jamais vu?
The phenomenon called jamais vu is translated from French as “never seen” and is considered the opposite of déjà vu. Yet it is much less common. While in this state, a person surrounded by a familiar environment or under familiar circumstances does tend to feel completely unfamiliar, strange, and even alien. It seems as if the mind doesn’t recognize something that should be known and easily recognizable.
In other words, unlike déjà vu, which means that one has experienced something before, jamais vu is the feeling of encountering something entirely new or foreign even though one already knows about it or has dealt with it at least once. Although this sensation is momentary and it lasts only a few seconds, a person may come up against a disconnect between subjective perception and objective knowledge or memories. This apparent paradox may have a somewhat disorienting and baffling effect on people causing them to question their perception and memory.
Why do we feel déjà vu and jamais vu?
Scientists attribute the main reasons why people may experience these phenomena to processes in the brain related to memory, handling, and interpretation of information about the surrounding reality.
According to the theory of divided attention, when we focus on one thing, we continue to subconsciously perceive everything happening around us but do not register it in our minds. Later, when we encounter this environment, we feel familiar with it even when we shouldn’t.
It is also believed that déjà vu can occur when even such a small cue as a sound, taste, smell, etc. of the environment we are in is similar to a remnant of a memory from the past, which provokes our brain to recreate the whole picture from this fragment.
Another theory is based on how our brains process new information and how they store long-term and short-term memories. The part of our brain responsible for sorting incoming information receives it twice with a millisecond delay between transmissions. If this second transmission is delayed, the brain may put the wrong time stamp on that bit of information and register it as a previous memory because it has already been processed.
Another cause of déjà vu is strong memories not only from your own experience but also from movies, books, etc. Over time, they can be pushed out of our memory, but as soon as we encounter something very similar, déjà vu can happen.
Jamais vu is much less researched than déjà vu, but there are still some hypotheses for the existence of this phenomenon.
From a neurological point of view, for example, there’s a possible alteration in the coordination of different brain areas responsible for memory and others responsible for managing information from the environment. This change can cause neuronal lag, which temporarily deforms the understanding of the external environment. Besides, jamais vu can be attributed to fatigue, lack of sleep, or stress. For example, people who are very tired or experiencing high stress may have difficulty managing information correctly, which leads to a temporary inability to recognize familiar objects or people. Also, it often appears in neurological alternations or conditions, such as epilepsy, brain damage, chronic headaches, etc.
Hence, although scientists have made some progress in understanding the mechanisms of déjà vu and jamais vu, these phenomena still hold some mystery. However, by shedding light on them, we are taking another step toward comprehending the intricacies of our own cognition and mind.
And have you ever faced up with these strange feelings? Please, share your experiences in the comments.
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