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By Anneliese ShieffBy Anneliese ShieffBy Anneliese ShieffBy Anneliese ShieffBy Anneliese ShieffBy Anneliese ShieffBy Anneliese ShieffBy Anneliese ShieffBy Anneliese ShieffBy Anneliese ShieffBy Anneliese ShieffBy Anneliese ShieffBy Anneliese ShieffBy Anneliese ShieffBy Anneliese ShieffBy Anneliese ShieffBy Anneliese ShieffBy Anneliese ShieffBy Anneliese ShieffBy Anneliese ShieffBy Anneliese Shieff

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éjà vu is French for “already seen”. Déjà vu is an uncanny feeling or illusion of having already seen or experienced something that is being

experienced for the fi rst time.

Déjà vu is extremely diffi cult to study because it occurs briefl y, unannounced,only in certain people, and has no witnesses or physical manifestations other than the person saying, “hey, déjà vu!” Because of this, there is little fi rm research and no defi nitive explanations. Déjà vu studies must depend on personal descriptions and recollection for data. For two centuries people have tried to come up with reasons we experience déjà vu. From philosophers, to psychologists, to paranormal experts, they’ve all had their theories.

While about 60 percent of people say they have experienced déjà vu, the rates are highest among people between the ages of 15 and 25. The upper age varies among researchers, but most agree that déjà vu experiences decrease with age. There have also been higher

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that familiarfeelingthat familiarfeelingthat familiarreported occurrences among those with higher incomes, those who tend to travel

more and those with higher education levels. Active imaginations and the ability to recall dreams has also been a commonality among people who report déjà vu experiences.

One reported fi nding is that the more open-minded or politically liberal a person is, the more likely they are to experience déjà vu. However, this may also mean that the more open-minded you are, the more likely you are to talk about something potentially seen as “weird,” like déjà vu.

Some researchers also report that the more tired or stressed you are, the more likely you are to experience déjà vu. Other researchers, however, have seen just the opposite. They report that the more refreshed and relaxed you are, the more likely you are to experience déjà vu. Obviously, the jury is still out about a lot of things related to déjà vu.

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utch psychiatrist Hermon Sno proposed the idea that memoriesare like holograms, meaning that you can recreate the entire three-

dimensional image from any fragment of the whole. The smaller the fragment, however, the fuzzier the ultimate picture. Déjà vu, he says, happens when some detail in the environment we are currently in (a sight, sound, smell, et cetera) is similar to some remnant of a memory of our past and our brain recreates an entire scene from that fragment.

Other researchers also agree that somesmall piece of familiarity may be the seed that creates the déjà vu feeling. For example, you might go for a ride with a friend in an old 1964 Plymouth and have a strong déjà vu experience without actually remembering (or even being aware of the fact) that your grandfather had the same type of car and you’re actually remembering riding in that car as a small child. Things like the smell and the look and feel of the seat or dashboard can bring back memories you didn’t even know you had.

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Another theory is based on the way our brain processes new information and how it stores long- and short-term memories. Robert Efron tested

an idea at the Veterans Hospital in Boston in 1963 that stands as a valid theory today. He proposed that a delayed neurological response causes déjà vu. Because information enters the processing centers of the brain via more than one path, it is possible that occasionally that blending of information might not synchronize correctly.

Efron found that the temporal lobe of the brain’s left hemisphere is responsible for sorting incoming information. He also found that the temporal lobe receives this incoming information twice with a slight (milliseconds-long) delay between transmissions -- once directly and once again after its detour through the right hemisphere of the brain. If that second transmission is delayed slightly longer, then the brain might put the wrong timestamp on that bit of information and register it as a previous memory because it had already been processed. That could explain the sudden sense of familiarity.

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his theory proposes that we have many stored memories that come from many aspects of our lives, including not only our own

experiences but also movies, pictures we’ve seen and books we’ve read. We can have very strong memories of things we’ve read about or seen without actually experiencing, and over time, these memories may be pushed back in our minds. When in we see or experience something that is very similar to one of those memories, we might experience a feeling of déjà vu. For example, as a child we may have seen a movie that had a scene in a famous restaurant or at a famous landmark. Then, as an adult, we visit the same location without remembering the movie, and the location appears to be very familiar to us.

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hologramtheoryhologramtheoryhologramD

utch psychiatrist Hermon Sno proposed the idea that memoriesare like holograms, meaning that you can recreate the entire three-

dimensional image from any fragment of the whole. The smaller the fragment, however, the fuzzier the ultimate picture. Déjà vu, he says, happens when some detail in the environment we are currently in (a sight, sound, smell, et cetera) is similar to some remnant of a memory of our past and our brain recreates an entire scene from that fragment.

Other researchers also agree that somesmall piece of familiarity may be the seed that creates the déjà vu feeling. For example, you might go for a ride with a friend in an old 1964 Plymouth and have a strong déjà vu experience without actually remembering (or even being aware of the fact) that your grandfather had the same type of car and you’re actually remembering riding in that car as a small child. Things like the smell and the look and feel of the seat or dashboard can bring back memories you didn’t even know you had.

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Another theory is based on the way our brain processes new information and how it stores long- and short-term memories. Robert Efron tested

an idea at the Veterans Hospital in Boston in 1963 that stands as a valid theory today. He proposed that a delayed neurological response causes déjà vu. Because information enters the processing centers of the brain via more than one path, it is possible that occasionally that blending of information might not synchronize correctly.

Efron found that the temporal lobe of the brain’s left hemisphere is responsible for sorting incoming information. He also found that the temporal lobe receives this incoming information twice with a slight (milliseconds-long) delay between transmissions -- once directly and once again after its detour through the right hemisphere of the brain. If that second transmission is delayed slightly longer, then the brain might put the wrong timestamp on that bit of information and register it as a previous memory because it had already been processed. That could explain the sudden sense of familiarity.

1313131313

oriesmemoriesmemoriesT

his theory proposes that we have many stored memories that come from many aspects of our lives, including not only our own

experiences but also movies, pictures we’ve seen and books we’ve read. We can have very strong memories of things we’ve read about or seen without actually experiencing, and over time, these memories may be pushed back in our minds. When in we see or experience something that is very similar to one of those memories, we might experience a feeling of déjà vu. For example, as a child we may have seen a movie that had a scene in a famous restaurant or at a famous landmark. Then, as an adult, we visit the same location without remembering the movie, and the location appears to be very familiar to us.

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By Anneliese Shieff By Anneliese Shieff By Anneliese Shieff By Anneliese Shieff By Anneliese Shieff By Anneliese Shieff By Anneliese Shieff By Anneliese Shieff By Anneliese Shieff By Anneliese Shieff By Anneliese Shieff By Anneliese Shieff By Anneliese Shieff By Anneliese Shieff By Anneliese Shieff By Anneliese Shieff By Anneliese Shieff By Anneliese Shieff By Anneliese Shieff By Anneliese Shieff By Anneliese Shieff