How often have you been on the bus or in your car and thought to yourself, I’ve been here before? Do you know what I mean? That strange feeling that you have been in this exact situation before, even though you know logically that you haven’t? This feeling we are all so familiar with is known as déjà vu, and it happens to everyone at one point or another. Here you will find the answer to your question about what is déjà vu, what causes it, and some of the reasons why it has happened to you so often in the past.
What Does Déjà vu Mean?
Have you ever experienced the sensation that you have already experienced something? It may seem like you already know what’s going to happen next. That feeling of having seen it before is often referred to as déjà vu. The phrase comes from French, meaning Already Seen.
Some people believe that déjà vu may be the sign of a psychic phenomenon, but there are other reasons for experiencing déjà vu.
What Causes Déjà vu?
Researchers have difficulties studying déjà vu because it occurs without warning, often in individuals without any health problems that may contribute to it.
Déjà vu experiences are, by nature, very brief. A sensation might not even last long enough for a person who does not know much about déjà vu to identify whether it is happening.
Your experience might leave you feeling unsettled, but you’ll brush it off. Numerous explanations exist for déjà vu, but most agree that it’s connected to memory somehow.
Below are a few of the more well-established theories:
Minor Brain Malfunctions
Some have speculated that déjà vu is caused by a minor glitch in the brain, an interruption that only lasts for a few moments, not unlike an epileptic seizure.
Basically, a form of mixing up occurs when the parts of your brain that track the present and recall memories are both active. It is not a concern unless it happens regularly.
Split Perception
The split perception theory states that déjà vu occurs when you see something twice, thus triggering the feeling.
At first, you might see something only out of the corner of your eye or while you’re preoccupied.
With the small amount of information that comes from a quick and furtive glance, your brain can start forming a memory of what you’ve seen. So, you might actually have seen more than you realized.
In other words, when you saw it for the first time, you didn’t experience it, but it entered your perception. Hence it feels like two different events, but it is the continued perception of a single event.
Memory Recall
Many experts believe that it is caused by how your brain organizes and remembers memories.
Professor Anne Cleary, a déjà vu researcher, and psychologist at Colorado State University conducted some research supporting this theory.
This is possible due to evidence found in her research on the idea that déjà vu occurs as a result of an event that resembles an experience from one’s past but not one’s memories.
Maybe it happened to you when you were a child, or perhaps you don’t remember it for some other reason.
Other Explanations
Other explanations for the phenomenon of déjà vu also exist.
Among these beliefs is the idea that déjà vu has a relationship to some type of psychic experience, such as recollecting something that one experienced in a previous life or a dream. Also, different cultures have different definitions for what is déjà vu.
Common Types of Déjà vu
- Déjà Vecu: The experience of the occasion in great detail, including recognizing the smell.
- Déjà Senti: Knowing what someone will say in advance.
- The feeling of knowing a place you never visited is called Déjà Visité.
- Déjà Voulu: Already wanted.
- Déjà Arrive: Already happened.
What are the Medical Reasons?
The majority of people with déjà vu do not experience any health-related complications. In rare cases, it can signify a neurological disorder. Many individuals with epilepsy have seizures that are localized in one area of the brain. They’re called temporal lobe seizures.
With bursts of uncontrolled electrical activity, this spasm can cause nerve cells in your brain to misfire, potentially making it hard to notice the signs that someone is seizing. Seizures can be one of two types- a focal or an electrical storm. Short-lived focal seizures that a person often stays conscious during may not be noticeable. People might mistake a person with a focal seizure for someone daydreaming or looking into the distance.
Temporal lobe seizures produce the feeling of “Already Seen“. The following signs show that you may be having a temporal lobe seizure rather than a déjà vu are the following.
- Sudden feelings such as anger or joy without any reason.
- Difficulty in controlling muscles.
- Feeling like you are about to get a seizure.
- Twitching in muscles.
Temporal lobe seizures impair your ability to communicate with others. The last 30 seconds to a few minutes. Typically you won’t know what’s going around you or what you’re doing. Sometimes it can look like you’re daydreaming. Often, the person witnessing a seizure will see slurring words or tapping their tongue or jaws.
Once the temporal lobe seizure has passed, you may feel unclear and foggy-headed. You may have trouble speaking or remembering what you were doing while the seizure occurred. Sometimes a temporal lobe seizure becomes more severe and manifests as a tonic-clonic (or grand mal) seizure that may cause convulsions and even knock you out.
When to Contact Your Doctor?
It will be easy to proceed further if you understand what is déjà vu and what is a seizure. If you suspect that your feelings of “Already Seen” are due to temporal seizures or some other neurological issue, it is good to speak to a doctor. In the following cases, you should visit your doctor.
- Trouble in controlling the breath after the seizure.
- If the seizure duration exceeds 5 minutes.
- Remaining unconscious after the seizure.
- If you have a second seizure.
- If you hurt yourself during the seizure.
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