Have you ever had this strange feeling that you feel like you have seen or experienced whatever that is happening now before? Or even dreamt about it before? Déjà vu is a kind of feeling. In French, déjà vu means “already seen”. It is a kind of feeling that describes the fascinating and strange experience where you feel that something is very familiar but you can’t remember it. The topic we are going to talk about today is Déjà vu. We will first explain who experience déjà vu the most. Then, the types of déjà vu. Finally, the factors that causes of déjà vu. First and foremost, we will explain who experience déjà vu the most. Who experience déjà vu the most?
- Young people
- People who travel a lot
- People who are busy, tired, and stressed out.
It may mean that déjà vu is actually the sign of a healthy mind, not an unhealthy one. The difference between a real memory and déjà vu is that moment when you realize you shouldn’t be having that feeling of recognition. That realization may be the thing that older brains lose. Maybe older people have déjà vu just as much as younger people, but they’re worse at spotting the difference between a real memory and a mind glitch.
People who travel a lot may see a lot of scene than people who does not travel often. Therefore, people who visit a lot of places will experience more. This will also affect the imagination between people travel and not travel. Besides, people who travel a lot will experience déjà vu, that is also because they had seen a lot of things in their mind. As a result, traveller will have richer imagination.
People who are exhausted or stressed tend to experience déjà vu more. This is probably because fatigue and stress are connected together. Because of physical and mental exhaustion, people cannot think clearly and focus on a particular object. Therefore, Deja vu will happen on the person. Apart from this, what are the different types of déjà vu.
Type of déjà vu:
- Deja vecu
- Deja senti
- Deja visite
People who said: “I have already experienced this,” is actually experience deja vecu. People felt that the thing is exactly happened in the past. This feeling contains much more details. They even can feel what happen in next second like a fortune teller. Actually, they are not really experienced the situation before but the scene exists in their brain. It might not a real memory and this situation is called deja vecu which can be said is a dream but not reality.
Deja senti is related closely to human emotions. People said: “I have already felt this,” because they experience deja senti at the moment. For example, I listen to a song and suddenly I feel sad. After a while I realise that the feeling I experienced before when I was on graduation ceremony. The experience of deja senti is not the remembering of specific situation or specific place but a general sense of the feelings in that past.
People who know a place they have never visited is actually experience deja visite. For example, people visit a town for first time but they can know the exact way to get to their destination. Some people who experienced it said that it comes strongly but fades very quick too. Deja Visite is a less common experience and sounds impossible but it happened. Last but not least, we will explain what is the factors that causes of déjà vu.
Factors of déjà vu
- Malfunctioning memory
- Neurological
- Not paying attention
The rhinal cortex, which is an area of the brain that makes us feel familiarity. It could somehow be activated without causing other areas linked with the memory. This could explain why it’s so difficult to pin down what feels familiar about the déjà vu.
Epileptic seizure are recalled by adjustment in electrical activity in neurons within regions of the brain. This dysfunctional neuronal activity can spread across the whole brain like the shock waves generated from an earthquake. The brain regions in which this electrical activation can occur include the medial temporal lobes. Electrical disturbance of this neural system causes an aura of déjà vu preceding to the epileptic event.
Subliminal perception, which is when a person does not pay attention to the object while looking at it; and conscious – the object is observed attentively. As an example, a person going into a room, talking on a cell phone and looking straight ahead at an object. After that, looking at the object consciously may result in a feeling of déjà vu.
Malfunctioning between the short- and long-term circuits in the brain, which mean that new information may take a shortcut straight to long-term memory. This skips over the structures the brain usually uses to store information, hence it could feel like we are experiencing something from the past.
Neural transmission delay will cause one experience déjà vu because the information travels from the eyes via a number of pathways to reach higher centres. If the information from two pathways arrives at different time, for whatever reason, the brain might perceive the second message as old information.
The more distracted you are the more likely you are going to experience déjà vu. Brown told Scientific American, “People who text on their cell phones while walking is only superficially aware of the pedestrians and shop, they are passing by. Perhaps, an episode of déjà vu begins during such a moment. When we appear into full awareness, we might do a perceptual double take. We are struck by a strange sense of familiarity because we saw the sense just moments before, unconsciously.’
In a nutshell, any person who has strong senses and clear mind can differentiate between past and present happenings efficiently and might not feel déjà vu ever in life. Second, it was made clear that déjà vu is an acute disturbance of the brain’s memory system. A current study also focuses on whether déjà vu is a normal phenomenon, and not due to some organic factor, such as a malfunctioning of the brain. Déjà vu is a feeling which almost everyone will experience but it would not change our lifestyle after experiencing déjà vu.
