Déjà vu (IPA: English /deɪʒɑː vuː/, French /deʒa vy/) (French for "already seen", also called paramnesia from the Greek word para (παρα) for
parallel and mnēmē (μνήμη) for memory) is the experience of feeling that one has witnessed or experienced a new situation
previously. The term was coined by a French psychic researcher,
Émile Boirac (1851–1917) in his
book L'Avenir des sciences psychiques (The Future of Psychic Sciences), which expanded upon an essay he wrote while
an undergraduate. The experience of déjà vu is usually accompanied by a compelling sense of familiarity, and also a sense of
"eeriness", "strangeness", or "weirdness". The "previous" experience is most frequently attributed to a dream, although in some
cases there is a firm sense that the experience "genuinely happened" in the past. Déjà vu has been described as "remembering the
future." See spirit explanation below.
The experience of déjà vu seems to be very common; in formal studies 70% of people report having experienced it at least once.
References to the experience of déjà vu are also found in literature of the past, indicating it is not a new phenomenon. It has been extremely difficult to invoke the déjà vu experience in laboratory settings,
therefore making it a subject of few empirical studies. Recently, researchers have found ways to recreate this sensation using
hypnosis.[1]
Types of déjà vu
According to Arthur Funkhouser there are three major types of déjà vu.[2]
Déjà vécu
Usually translated as 'already lived,' déjà vécu is described in a quotation from Charles
Dickens:
| “ |
We have all some experience of a feeling, that comes over us occasionally, of what we
are saying and doing having been said and done before, in a remote time – of our having been surrounded, dim ages ago, by the
same faces, objects, and circumstances – of our knowing perfectly what will be said next, as if we suddenly remember it![3] |
” |
When most people speak of déjà vu, they are actually experiencing déjà vécu. Surveys have revealed that as much as 70% of the
population have had these experiences, usually between ages 15 to 25, when the mind is still subjectable to noticing the change
in environment.[4] The experience is usually related to a
very ordinary event, but it is so striking that it is remembered for several years afterwards.
Déjà vécu refers to an experience involving more than just sight, which is why labeling such "déjà vu" is usually inaccurate.
The sense involves a great amount of detail, sensing that everything is just as it was before and a weird knowledge of what is
going to be said or happen next.
More recently, the term déjà vécu has been used to describe very intense and persistent feelings of a déjà vu type, which
occur as part of a memory disorder.[5]
Déjà senti
This phenomenon specifies something 'already felt.' Unlike the implied precognition of déjà vécu, déjà senti is primarily or
even exclusively a mental happening, has no precognitive aspects, and rarely if ever remains in the afflicted person's memory
afterwards.
Dr. John Hughlings Jackson recorded the words of one of his patients who suffered from temporal lobe or psychomotor epilepsy
in an 1889 paper:
| “ |
What is occupying the attention is what has occupied it before, and indeed has been
familiar, but has been for a time forgotten, and now is recovered with a slight sense of satisfaction as if it had been sought
for. ... At the same time, or ... more accurately in immediate sequence, I am dimly aware that the recollection is fictitious and
my state abnormal. The recollection is always started by another person's voice, or by my own verbalized thought, or by what I am
reading and mentally verbalize; and I think that during the abnormal state I generally verbalize some such phrase of simple
recognition as 'Oh yes – I see', 'Of course – I remember', but a minute or two later I can recollect neither the words nor the
verbalized thought which gave rise to the recollection. I only find strongly that they resemble what I have felt before under
similar abnormal conditions. |
” |
As with Dr. Jackson's patient, some temporal-lobe epileptics may experience this phenomenon.
Déjà visité
This experience is less common and involves an uncanny knowledge of a new place. The translation is "already visited." Here
one may know his or her way around in a new town or landscape while at the same time knowing that this should not be
possible.
Dreams, reincarnation and also out-of-body travel have been invoked to explain this phenomenon. Additionally, some suggest that
reading a detailed account of a place can result in this feeling when the locale is later visited. Two famous examples of such a
situation were described by Nathaniel Hawthorne in his book Our Old
Home[6] and Sir Walter
Scott in Guy Mannering.[7] Hawthorne
recognized the ruins of a castle in England and later was able to trace the sensation to a piece written about the castle by
Alexander Pope nearly a century earlier.
C. G. Jung published an account of déjà visité in his 1952 paper On synchronicity.[8]
In order to distinguish déjà visité from déjà vécu, it is important to identify the source of the feeling. Déjà vécu is in
reference to the temporal occurrences and processes, while déjà visité has more to do with
geography and spatial relations.
Scientific research
In recent years, déjà vu has been subjected to serious psychological and neurophysiological research. The most likely
explanation of déjà vu is that it is not an act of "precognition" or "prophecy", but rather an anomaly of memory; it is the
impression that an experience is "being recalled". [citation needed]See Chris Moulin's work. This explanation is substantiated by the fact that the sense of
"recollection" at the time is strong in most cases, but that the 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
circumstance(s) they were "remembering" when they had the déjà vu experience. 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). In other words, the events would be stored into memory before the conscious part of
the brain even receives the information and processes it. This would explain why one is, if it ever comes to mind, powerless
trying to twist the outcome of the event in order to create a paradox. The delay is only of a few milliseconds, and besides,
already happened at the time the conscious of the individual is experiencing it.
Another theory being explored is that of vision. As the theory suggests, one eye may record what is seen fractionally faster
than the other, creating that "strong recollection" sensation upon the "same" scene being viewed milliseconds later by the
opposite eye. However, this one fails to explain the phenomenon when other sensory inputs are involved, such as the auditive
part, and especially the digital part. If one, for instance, experience déjà vu of someone slapping the fingers on his/her left
hand, then the déjà vu feeling is certainly not due to his/her right hand to be late on the left one. Also, persons with only one
eye still report experiencing deja vu or deja vecu. The global phenomenon must therefore be narrowed down to the brain itself
(say, one hemisphere would be late compared to the other one).
Considerable strength is added to this interpretation by the fact that computers experience
very similar effects when inputs are processed in an unexpected order. This is known as a race
condition, and is often responsible for subtle bugs in complex systems.
Links with disorders
A clinical correlation has been found between the experience of déjà vu and disorders such as schizophrenia and anxiety,[9] and the likelihood of the experience considerably increases with subjects having these conditions.
However, the strongest pathological association of déjà vu is with temporal lobe
epilepsy.[10][11] 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 (i.e. non-pathological) epileptic episode regularly (e.g.
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
sensation of memory.
Pharmacology
It has been reported that certain recreational drugs increase the chances of déjà vu occurring in the user. Some
pharmaceutical drugs, when taken together, have also been implicated in the cause of déjà vu. Taiminen and Jääskeläinen (2001)
reported the case of an otherwise healthy male who started experiencing intense and recurrent sensations of déjà vu on taking the
drugs amantadine and phenylpropanolamine
together to relieve flu symptoms. He found the experience so interesting that he completed the full course of his treatment and
reported it to the psychologists to write-up as a case study. Due to the dopaminergic
action of the drugs and previous findings from electrode stimulation of the brain (e.g. Bancaud, Brunet-Bourgin, Chauvel, &
Halgren, 1994), Taiminen and Jääskeläinen speculate that déjà vu occurs as a result of hyperdopaminergic action in the mesial
temporal areas of the brain.
Memory-based explanations
The similarity between a déjà vu-eliciting stimulus and an existing, but different, memory trace may lead to the sensation.
Thus, encountering something which evokes the implicit associations of an experience or sensation that cannot be remembered may
lead to déjà vu. In an effort to experimentally reproduce the sensation, Banister and Zangwill (1941) used hypnosis to give participants posthypnotic amnesia suggestions for material they had already seen. When this
was later re-encountered, the restricted activation caused by the posthypnotic amnesia resulted in three of the 10 participants
reporting what the authors termed paramnesias. Memory-based explanations may lead to the development of a number of non-invasive
experimental methods by which a long sought-after analogue of déjà vu can be reliably produced that would allow it to be tested
under well-controlled experimental conditions.
Neural theories
In the late 20th and early 21st Centuries, it was widely believed that déjà vu could be caused by the mis-timing of
neuronal firing. This timing error was thought to lead the brain to believe that it was
encountering a stimulus for the second time, when in fact, it was simply re-experiencing the same event from a slightly delayed
source. A number of variations of these theories exist, with miscommunication of the two cerebral hemispheres and abnormally fast neuronal firing also given as explanations for the
sensation. Perhaps the most widely acknowledged neuronal theory is the optical pathway delay theory which explains déjà vu as
being the product of a delayed optical input from one eye. Closely following the input from the
first eye (when it should be simultaneous), this misleads conscious awareness and suggests a sensation of familiarity when there
should not be one. Although intuitively plausible, this theory is untestable due to the minute times involved in neuronal firing,
and inconsistent with reports that blind individuals experience déjà vu in the same way as sighted individuals (O'Connor &
Moulin, 2006).
Non-scientific explanations
Spirit
According to some, we are more than our physical body; we are body-mind-soul-spirit. The spirit part of us has the ability to
be in more than one time and place. Sometimes the spirit part jumps ahead a couple of seconds. Information is passed back. When
we encounter the same event in real time, the mind recognizes the event as having already been experienced. Déjà vu has been
described as "remembering the future."
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 prophecy, visions (such as received in
dreams) or past-life memories.
Dreams
Some believe déjà vu is the memory of dreams. Though the
majority of dreams are never remembered, a dreaming person can display activity in the areas of the brain that process long-term
memory. It has been speculated that dreams read directly into long-term memory, bypassing short-term memory entirely. In this
case, déjà vu might be a memory of a forgotten dream with elements in common with the current waking experience. This may be
similar to another phenomenon known as déjà rêvé, or "already dreamed."
Not only is the link to dreams as they pertain to déjà vu the subject of scientific and psychological studies, it is also a
subject of spiritual texts, as is found, for example, in the writings of the Bahá'í Faith
with quotes like "... perchance when ten years are gone, thou wilt witness in the outer world the very things thou hast dreamed
tonight."[12] and "Behold how the thing which thou hast
seen in thy dream is, after a considerable lapse of time, fully realized."[13]
Reincarnation
Those believing in reincarnation theorize that déjà vu is caused by fragments of
past-life memories being jarred to the surface of the mind by familiar surroundings or people. Others theorize that the
phenomenon is caused by astral projection, or out-of-body experiences (OBEs), where it is possible that individuals have visited places while
in their astral bodies during sleep. The sensation may also be interpreted as connected to
the fulfillment of a condition as seen or felt in a premonition. For further cases of
remembering information from past lives, see Ian Stevenson.
Parallel Universes
It has been suggested in the theory of MWI that since parallel universes
all branch from the same source, it is plausible that we are connected to our other selves living in alternate realities, the
same person experiencing many different possibilities [14]. Déjà vu could therefore be a moment in which parallel universes overlap and we experience the
happenings of an alternate universe a few milliseconds ahead of our own reality.
Related phenomena
Jamais vu
-
Jamais vu is a term in psychology (from the French, meaning "never seen") which is used to describe any familiar situation
which is not recognized by the observer.
Often described as the opposite of déjà vu, jamais vu involves a sense of eeriness and the observer's impression of seeing the
situation for the first time, despite rationally knowing that he or she has been in the situation before.
Jamais vu is more commonly explained as when a person momentarily does not recognize a word, person, or place that they
already know.
Jamais vu is sometimes associated with certain types of amnesia and epilepsy.
Theoretically, as seen below, a jamais vu feeling in a sufferer of a delirious disorder or intoxication could result in a delirious explanation of it, such as in the Capgras delusion, in which the
patient takes a person known by him/her for a false double or impostor. If the impostor is
himself, the clinical setting would be the same as the one described as depersonalisation, hence jamais vus of oneself or of the very "reality of reality", are termed
depersonalisation (or irreality) feelings.
Times Online reports:
| “ |
Chris Moulin, of the University of Leeds, asked 92 volunteers to write out "door" 30 times in 60 seconds. At the
International Conference on Memory in Sydney last
week he reported that 68 per cent of the volunteers showed symptoms of jamais vu, such as beginning
to doubt that "door" was a real word. Dr Moulin believes that a similar brain fatigue underlies a phenomenon observed in some
schizophrenia patients: that a familiar person has been replaced by an impostor. Dr Moulin
suggests they could be suffering from chronic jamais vu. [1] |
” |
Presque vu
Presque vu (from French, meaning "almost seen") is the sensation of being on the brink of an epiphany. Often very disorienting and distracting, presque vu rarely leads to an actual breakthrough.
Frequently, one experiencing presque vu will say that they have something "on the tip of their tongue."
Presque vu is often cited by people who suffer from epilepsy or other seizure-related brain
conditions, such as temporal lobe lability.
L'esprit de l'escalier
- Full article at L'esprit de l'escalier.
L'esprit de l'escalier (from French, "staircase wit") is remembering something when it is too late. For example, a clever
come-back to a remark, thought of after the conversation has ended. Another example for this is when you're about to take a test
and you know everything, but, when it begins, you forget all that you've learned; after taking the test you remember absolutely
everything that you had forgotten while taking it.
See also
References
- ^ "Deja vu 'recreated in laboratory'", BBC News, 2006-07-21.
Retrieved on 2006-07-27.
- ^ Funkhouser, Arthur (1996). "Three types of
déjà vu".
- ^ Dickens, Charles (1991). Personal History of David Copperfield. Time Warner Libraries. ISBN
1879329018.
- ^ Howstuffworks "What is déjà vu?
- ^ Moulin, C.J.A.; Conway, M.A. Thompson,
R.G., James, N. & Jones, R.W. (2005). "Disordered Memory Awareness: Recollective Confabulation in Two Cases of Persistent
Déjà vecu". Neuropsychologia (43): 1362-1378.
- ^ Hawthorne, Nathaniel (1863). Our Old Home. Boston:
Houghton Mifflin & Co.. ISBN 1404374248.
- ^ Scott, Sir Walter (1815). Guy Mannering otfr The Astrologer.
Edinburgh: J. Ballantyne & Co.. ISBN 0766170713.
- ^ Jung, C. G. (1952). "On
synchronicity". (Jung's paper is often cited from a 1966 edition, however, this was not the original publication as Jung died
in 1961.)
- ^ Pacific NEUROPSYCHIATRY
- ^ Neurology Channel
- ^ Howstuffworks "What is déjà vu?
- ^ The Valley of Wonderment
- ^ LXXIX: As to thy question concerning the worlds...
- ^ The Art of Paradigm
Shifting
External links
- Chronic deja
vu- quirks and quarks episode (mp3)
- "When deja vu is more than just an odd feeling" The Ottawa Citizen, February 20
2006
- "The Tease of Memory" The
Chronicle of Higher Education, July 23 2004
- "Déjà Vu: If It All Seems Familiar, There May Be a Reason" New York Times, September
14, 2004
- "Déjà Vu, Again and
Again" New York Times, July 2, 2006
- "UGH! I Just Got the Creepiest Feeling That I Have Been Here Before: Déjà vu and the Brain, Consciousness and Self",
Neurobiology and Behavior, 1998
- http://www.anthonypeake.com
- The Skeptic's Dictionary
- How Déjà Vu Works a Howstuffworks
article
- Dentate Gyrus NMDA
Receptors Mediate Rapid Pattern Separation in the Hippocampal Network
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