Everyone knows the disturbing feeling of déjà vu, when experiencing some sensations, it seems to us that we have been in this situation before.
For a few seconds, we are firmly convinced that we have already been in the moment that is happening now, and this belief is so strong that we can almost predict what will happen next.
However, this amazing feeling passes as quickly as it comes, and we return to our reality.
Despite the fact that the actual reason for déjà vu has not yet been confirmed by science, more than 40 theories have been put forward trying to explain the phenomenon. We have collected for you 10 of the most interesting ones that will make you think.
10. Mixing feelings and memory
This hypothesis attempts to explain the sensation of déja vu by linking it to our sensory perceptions. A famous psychological experiment, a study by Grant et al, shows that our memory is context sensitive, which means that we can better remember information when we place it in the same environment in which we studied it.
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This helps explain déjà vu by showing how stimuli in the environment can trigger memories. Some landscapes or smells can push our subconscious mind to pull from memory those periods of time when we have already experienced it.
This explanation also explains why the same déjà vus are sometimes repeated. When we remember something, it increases the activity of our neural pathways, which means we are more likely to remember what we often think about.
However, this theory provides no explanation as to why déjà vu occurs in the absence of familiar stimuli.
9. Double processing
Like the previous theory, this hypothesis is also associated with malfunctioning memory. When we initially receive some information, our brain puts it into our short-term memory.
If we return to this information, revise, supplement, then it will ultimately be transferred into long-term memory, because it is easier to extract it from there.
The elements stored in our short-term memory will be lost if we do not make attempts to “code” them, that is, to remember them. For example, we will only remember the price of a purchased item for a very short period of time.
This theory suggests that when a person receives new information, the brain can sometimes try to write it down immediately into long-term memory, thereby creating an uncomfortable illusion that we have already experienced it.
However, the theory is a little confusing, because it does not explain exactly when, at what moments the brain malfunction occurs, although this may be due to small malfunctions that each of us has.
8. The theory of a parallel universe
The idea is that we live among millions of parallel universes, in which there are millions of versions of ourselves, and in which the life of the same person goes according to different scenarios. This thought has always been very exciting. Deja vu adds credibility to its reality.
The adherents of this theory argue that the human experience of déjà vu can be explained by the fact that he experienced something similar a minute earlier, in a parallel universe.
This means that no matter what you do while experiencing déjà vu, the parallel version of you does the same in the other universe, and déja vu in this case creates a kind of alignment between the two worlds.
While this theory is quite intriguing, it is not supported by most scientific evidence, making it difficult to accept. However, the theory of the multiverse, according to which millions of different universes are constantly formed in a random way and only occasionally are similar to ours, still supports this hypothesis.
7. Recognizing familiar things
To recognize a stimulus in the environment, we use the so-called recognition memory, which is known in two forms: recollection and familiar things.
Recollection is when we recognize what we have seen before. Our brain extracts and gives us the information that we previously encoded into our memory. Recognition based on familiar things has a slightly different nature.
This happens when we learn something, but we cannot remember if it happened before. For example, when you see a familiar face in a store, but cannot remember how you know that person.
Déjà vu can be a peculiar form of recognition based on familiar things, and this can explain such strong feelings of something familiar during its experience. This theory was tested in a psychological experiment in which participants were asked to study a list of celebrity names and then a collection of celebrity photographs.
Not everyone on the list of names was included in the photos.
The members only barely recognized the celebrities from their photographs unless their names were on the list they had previously seen. This may mean that déjà vu occurs when we have a faint memory of something that happened before, but the memory is not strong enough to remember where we remember this or that fact from.
6. The theory of holograms
The hologram theory is the idea that our memories are shaped as three-dimensional images, that is, they have a structured frame system. This theory was proposed by Hermon Sno and believes that all information in memory can be retrieved with just one element.
Therefore, if in your environment there is at least one stimulus (smell, sound) that reminds you of some moment in the past, the whole memory is recreated by your mind like a hologram.
This explains déjà vu in such a way that when something reminds us of the past now, our brain reconnects with our past, creates a memory hologram and makes us think that we are living this moment now.
The reason why we do not recognize the memory after the moment of déja vu is that the stimulus that causes the formation of holographic memory is often hidden from our conscious perception.
For example, you might experience déjà vu when you pick up a metal cup, because the feel of metal is the same as the handle of your childhood bike.
5. Prophetic dreams
In prophetic dreams, we predict something that then happens in the future. And often people suddenly find themselves in a situation that they previously saw in a dream. Many people say they had dreams of great tragedies long before they happened (for example, the sinking of the Titanic). This suggests that people do have a subconscious sixth sense.
This might explain déjà vu. At the moment when we experience it, perhaps once we have already dreamed of it. For example, you dreamed of a trip along a certain road, and then you actually find yourself on this previously unfamiliar road.
That is, you remember this road for some reason, in order to find out later. Since sleep is not a conscious process, this explains why we do not understand the stimulus, but still feel that we are familiar with it (the road from the example above).
4. Divided attention
Divided attention theory suggests that deja vu is due to the subconscious recognition of an object in our experience of déja vu. This means that our subconscious mind remembers the stimulus, but we are not aware of it.
This theory was tested in an experiment involving student volunteers, who were shown a series of images of different locations and then asked to point to familiar photographs.
However, before starting the experiment, the students saw photos of the same places that they had never visited. They saw the photo for several moments, so the minds of the volunteers did not have time to remember them.
As a result, students much more often “recognized” unfamiliar places, the photographs of which were remembered by their subconscious. This demonstrates how our subconscious is able to remember an image and allow us to recognize it.
This means that déja vu can be our sudden awareness of a message that is received by our unconscious. Proponents of this theory believe that we often receive subliminal messages through the Internet, television and social networks.
3. Tonsil
The amygdala is a small area of our brain that plays an important role in a person's emotionality (most often it works when a person is angry or afraid). We have two amygdala, one in each hemisphere.
For example, if you are afraid of spiders, then the amygdala is responsible for your reaction and for handling it when you meet this creature. When we find ourselves in a dangerous situation, our amygdala is activated to temporarily disorient our brain.
If you are standing under a falling tree, your amygdala can “start to panic,” which causes your brain to malfunction. The amygdala can be used to explain déjà vu by considering this temporary brain malfunction.
For example, if we find ourselves in a situation that was already with us, but with some changes, then the amygdala can provoke a panic reaction in us (for example, we were in an apartment with a layout that we had previously encountered, but in this case the furniture is different) …
This panic reaction, a state of temporary confusion, is déjà vu.
2. Reincarnation
The general theory of reincarnation is that before a person came into this life, he lived several more lives. Despite the fact that there are some intriguing stories of people who remember accurate personal information about themselves from a past life, those who believe in reincarnation say that most of us pass into the next life without remembering the previous one.
This means that we do not directly carry memories from our other life. Proponents of this theory argue that we enter a new life with a set of signals that reflect a state of consciousness.
That is, the memories created at one level of consciousness cannot be restored at another level of consciousness (for example, the inability to remember something while intoxicated).
That is, déjà vu occurs when our consciousness is in its abnormal state. Reincarnation theory explains this experience by referring to it as a signal from a previous life. There may be some kind of stimulus or trigger in the environment that allows consciousness to move to another level.
Perhaps we will hear a certain sound, smell or image from our past life and remember it for a moment. This explains why we feel like we are experiencing the past in the present.
However, from the point of view of science, this theory can neither be confirmed nor refuted. It all comes down to a matter of faith.
1. Reality glitch
The glitch theory is perhaps the most bizarre and interesting explanation on this list. Déjà vu is a difficult situation in a person’s life, which he quickly forgets when it passes, but if this theory is correct, then déjà vu can actually be a phenomenal event.
Glitch theory describes déjà vu as a momentary destruction of our reality. Einstein once suggested that such a thing as time does not exist at all, it was invented by people, so that there was order and that everything was structured.
That is, time may just be an illusion, and deja vu in it just gives us a little break. This explains why we feel like we have lived before. If time is something that does not exist, then the past, present and future occur simultaneously.
So when déjà vu happens, we simply plunge into a higher level of consciousness where we can have more than one experience at the same time. This theory, however, has broader implications.
If déjà vu is truly a mistake of reality, then this could mean that the destruction of the foundations of our universe occurs every time the experience of deja vu occurs. Some people believe that it is at the moment of déjà vu that a UFO can be seen, because this mysterious experience opens bridges between different realities.
Translation: Balandina E. A.