When it all seems so familiar, there's a good reason.
Fully two-thirds of adults say they have had at least one déjà vu experience in which they feel as if they have lived through the moment before. "Déjà vu" is French for "already seen." It happens to people with healthy, normal brains, but psychologists who study memory think it may be caused by a kind of brain cross circuit, reports The New York Times.
Who is most likely to experience déjà vu?
It occurs most often when we are very tired or stressed. It is more likely to affect people who travel frequently and those who have a college or graduate degree. It seems to peak in young adulthood and then taper off gradually as we grow older when our daily lives become more routine and predictable.
What triggers déjà vu?
It's the little things, even mundane pieces of life that seem to set off déjà vu. The Times notes it could be the click of a radiator or the play of shadows on a tablecloth. Gretchen Purcell, a Washington, D.C. business consultant, told the newspaper that she recently experienced déjà vu during a conference call meeting, and it was the way the coffee cups were lined up on the table that triggered it. "The whole scene was so familiar I thought I knew what people were going to say before they said it," she told The Times. "It was like I was in a movie I'd already seen."
What is the biology of déjà vu?
We often register an impression or image before we're actually aware that we have seen it. "The brain sends visual signals through at least two circuits, which move from the retina through the brain to the visual cortex via different routes," writes Times reporter Benedict Carey. "It is an exquisitely tuned system, but common experience suggests many ways its functioning might be thrown off." It's a type of short-circuit in our brains.
What is the connection between déjà vu and epilepsy?
Doctors have long noticed that sensations of déjà vu sometimes precede an epileptic seizure. The New York Times reports that overactive circuits in the temporal lobe, which can cause the seizures, may inappropriately stimulate regions of the brain involved in detecting familiarity.
Ever heard of jamais vu?
This is the opposite of déjà vu when we stare at something familiar--be it a word or an object--and have no recollection of it
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Now thats just disappointing I thought I had had some psychic episodes,but it was just the voices in my head repeating themselves
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Originally Posted by Arcadia
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