Exploring the Mysterious Phenomenon of Déjà Vu

Sunday - December 17 2023, 05:16 UTC - 11 months ago

Déjà vu is an mysterious phenomenon experienced by many where they feel as though they have already experienced a certain situation, even though it is impossible. It has puzzled philosophers, neurologists, and writers for a long time and was first brought to the realm of science by a scientist named Alan Brown who reviewed the scientific literature on the topic. His research looked at common triggers, followed by examinations of the Gestalt familiarity hypothesis, and other potential causes. It is still widely studied today.

#Exploring the Mysterious Phenomenon of Déjà Vu .

Have you ever had that weird feeling that you’ve experienced the same exact situation before, even though that’s impossible? Sometimes it can even seem like you’re reliving something that already happened. This phenomenon, known as déjà vu, has puzzled philosophers, neurologists, and writers for a very long time.

Starting in the late 1800s, many theories began to emerge regarding what might cause déjà vu, which means “already seen” in French. People thought maybe it stemmed from mental dysfunction or perhaps a type of brain problem. Or maybe it was a temporary hiccup in the otherwise normal operation of human memory. However, the topic did not reach the realm of science until quite recently.

Early in this millennium, a scientist named Alan Brown decided to conduct a review of everything researchers had written about déjà vu until that point. Much of what he could find had a paranormal flavor, having to do with the supernatural – things like past lives or psychic abilities. But he also found studies that surveyed regular people about their déjà vu experiences. From all these papers, Brown was able to glean some basic findings on the déjà vu phenomenon.

For example, Brown determined that roughly two-thirds of people experience déjà vu at some point in their lives. He determined that the most common trigger of déjà vu is a scene or place, and the next most common trigger is a conversation. He also reported on hints throughout a century or so of medical literature of a possible association between déjà vu and some types of seizure activity in the brain.

Brown’s review brought the topic of déjà vu into the realm of more mainstream science, because it appeared in both a scientific journal that scientists who study cognition tend to read, and also in a book aimed at scientists. His work served as a catalyst for scientists to design experiments to investigate déjà vu.

Prompted by Brown’s work, my own research team began conducting experiments aimed at testing hypotheses about possible mechanisms of déjà vu. We investigated a near century-old hypothesis that suggested déjà vu can happen when there’s a spatial resemblance between a current scene and an unrecalled scene in your memory. Psychologists called this the Gestalt familiarity hypothesis.

For example, imagine you’re passing the nursing station in a hospital unit on your way to visit a sick friend. Although you’ve never been to this hospital before, you are struck with a feeling that you have. The underlying cause for this experience of déjà vu could be that the layout of the scene, including the placement of the furniture and the particular objects within the space, have the same layout as a different scene that you did experience in the past.

Maybe the way the nursing station is arrayed, with the same kind of chair in the same corner, is very similar to a different hospital unit you visited three years ago or even as a child. The feeling of déjà vu could be due to the fact that the brain is being sent a familiarity signal that something is the same, even if the conscious mind is not connecting those dots.