The word deja vu itself is translated from French as “already seen”. It means the feeling that the present state or situation has already occurred in the past. Moreover, the person himself consciously understands that this situation is happening to him for the first time.
Biography of deja vu
According to statistics from New Scientist magazine for 2009, about 90% of people admitted that they knew this feeling. Usually a person meets déjà vu for the first time at the age of 8-9 years, but from my own experience I can say that this age is not always accurate. I experienced my first and very bright déjà vu in preschool age. But the peak of the frequency of déjà vu falls on the age of 16 to 0 18 years, which is associated with the emotional experience of transitional age and its attendant stresses. The second peak refers to the age of 35-40 or the so-called midlife crisis.
It is interesting that psychiatrists attribute such an ordinary and seemingly familiar feeling to the type of hallucinations, if it is observed very often. That is, in essence, excessive déjà vu is an officially recognized mental disorder that is inextricably linked to the experience of stress.
History of déjà vu research
The feeling of "already seen" is relevant not only for the modern person. Although the term itself appeared relatively recently (in the 19th century), one way or another it was described by famous personalities from the times of Antiquity. Aristotle argued that déjà vu is our past life memories. Parapsychologists hold the same view: they consider it to be proof of the process of reincarnation.
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A more scientifically grounded assumption about the nature of déjà vu was given by the famous scientist Sigmund Freud. In his opinion, déjà vu is a trace of a memory repressed from consciousness (or forgotten) of a strong painful emotional experience. Freud's desire to explain this phenomenon only from a scientific point of view was not supported by his student Carl Gustav Jung. Having experienced the effect of déjà vu at the age of 12, Jung was sure to the end of his life that he was living two parallel lives. He also argued that déjà vu is closely related to the collective unconscious, in other words, to the memory of generations or the knowledge of ancestors.
Freud's student, the Hungarian psychoanalyst Sandor Ferenczi, believed that déjà vu could also be associated with our dreams: something of what is happening at the moment reminds us associatively of these forgotten subjects.
Modern research on déjà vu
The effect of déjà vu attracted science very much, like everything mysterious and difficult to explain. In the late 20th and early 21st centuries, a huge amount of research was carried out concerning the sensation of déjà vu, and many scientific conferences were devoted to this mysterious phenomenon.
The main problem in the study of déjà vu has been its relative rarity and unexpectedness. However, scientists at the University of St Andrews in the UK were able to overcome this barrier. To create an artificial déjà vu, the scientists named each study participant a series of related sleep-related words, without the word “sleep” being uttered. But when the subjects were then asked questions about sleep, they began to feel that they were hearing this word along with others. At this point, the subjects had their brains scanned using MRI.
The first and most interesting conclusion that the omnipotent British scientists were able to draw is that the effect of déjà vu is not directly related to the regions of the brain responsible for memory. The cause of déjà vu is a malfunction of the neural system of the brain, and the main culprit is the hippocampus.
A scientific conference in Marseille was devoted to the effect of déjà vu. Then, data were published on the connection between this phenomenon and epilepsy. Since in people with epilepsy, usually deja vu happens on average 10 times more often than in ordinary people, this greatly simplified the observation of the phenomenon. An alternative point of view has been proposed that this is a short-term dysfunction in the work of several parts of the brain. "As a result, dissociation (destruction of associative links) between new information and memories occurs, and we instantly recognize an unfamiliar object or situation," suggested Chris Moulin, a psychologist at the University of Leeds (UK).
The meaning of déjà vu
Some scientists have argued that deja vu is just a normal malfunction in our body. They argue that this sensation has an important function - a self-test of the brain for the performance of its memory. He compares what he sees with the accumulated stocks of information.
Moderate déjà vu is a signal that your brain is working properly. So don't be alarmed by system crashes in the Matrix. It's all just ourselves.
Déjà vu facts
- People with schizophrenia experience what are called false memories - these are sensations or feelings that they have done something that in fact they have never done before. This state is similar to deja vu and for this reason it is often mistaken for deja vu.
- Over the past decades, belief in déjà vu, or acceptance of this phenomenon as a fact, has increased significantly. From 1978 to 1995, the number of people who believe in déjà vu almost doubled.
- The connection between deja vu and the level of education of people has been proven. Thus, the lowest level of déjà vu (48%) was recorded in primary school children. - The highest percentage of experience in déjà vu (81%) is seen with PhDs and people with advanced degrees. Among people who are professionals in their field (80%), and among general laborers, farmers and workers in mines (50%)
Women experience déjà vu more often than men.
PS How often do you experience the feeling of déjà vu? What is the most striking one in your life?
Yulia Vishnya