Have you ever visited a store for the first time and felt eerily familiar? Or maybe had a conversation with your friend and felt that you had the exact conversation before, even though you know you haven't. If you've ever found in a similar situation then you've experienced déjà vu. 60 to 70 percent of us have experienced déjà vu. The sight, sound, taste or even smell of something makes us think that we've experienced it before, although we haven't.
Déjà vu is a French term that literally means "already seen" and has several variations. There are more than 40 theories to what déjà vu is and what causes it. We'll explore through a few of these theories and shed some light on this phenomenon.
Dual Processing(or Delayed Vision)
This 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 that stands as a valid theory even 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.
Divided Attention(or cell phone theory)
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) 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 time stamp on that bit of information and register it as a previous memory because it had already been processed. That could explain the sense of familiarity.
Dr. Alan Brown has attempted to recreate a process that he thinks is similar to déjà vu. In studies at Duke University and SMU, They showed photographs of various locations were familiar. Prior to showing them some of the photographs , however, they flashed the photos onto the screen at subliminal speeds (10-20milli seconds) which is long enough for the brain to register the photo but not long enough for the student to be consciously aware of it. Th imaged that had been shown subliminally were familiar at a much higher rate than those that were not, even those who had actually been to those locations.
Based on this idea, Alan Brown proposed what he calls cell phone theory (divided attention). This means we are distracted with something else, we subliminally take in what's around us but may not truly register it consciously. Then, when we are able to focus on what we are doing, those surroundings appear to already be familiar to us even when they shouldn't be.It would work like this : before we've actually looked at thee room, our brains have processed it visually and/or by smell or sound, so that when we actually look at it we get a feeling that we've been there before.
Déjà vu is a French term that literally means "already seen" and has several variations. There are more than 40 theories to what déjà vu is and what causes it. We'll explore through a few of these theories and shed some light on this phenomenon.
Dual Processing(or Delayed Vision)
Divided Attention(or cell phone theory)
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) 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 time stamp on that bit of information and register it as a previous memory because it had already been processed. That could explain the sense of familiarity.
Dr. Alan Brown has attempted to recreate a process that he thinks is similar to déjà vu. In studies at Duke University and SMU, They showed photographs of various locations were familiar. Prior to showing them some of the photographs , however, they flashed the photos onto the screen at subliminal speeds (10-20milli seconds) which is long enough for the brain to register the photo but not long enough for the student to be consciously aware of it. Th imaged that had been shown subliminally were familiar at a much higher rate than those that were not, even those who had actually been to those locations.Based on this idea, Alan Brown proposed what he calls cell phone theory (divided attention). This means we are distracted with something else, we subliminally take in what's around us but may not truly register it consciously. Then, when we are able to focus on what we are doing, those surroundings appear to already be familiar to us even when they shouldn't be.It would work like this : before we've actually looked at thee room, our brains have processed it visually and/or by smell or sound, so that when we actually look at it we get a feeling that we've been there before.
Hologram Theory
Dutch psychiatrist Hermon Sno proposed the idea that memories are like holograms, meaning that you can recreate the entire three-dimensional image from any fragment of the whole. Déjà vu happens when some detail in the environment we are currently in is similar to some remnant of a memory of our past and our brain recreates an entire scene from that from fragment.
Although déjà vu has been studied as a phenomenon for over a hundred years and researchers have advanced tens of theories about its cause, there is no simple explanation for what it s and why it happens. Still the dual processing theory is still considered more logical and valid. Perhaps as technology advances and we learn more about how the brain works, we will learn more of this phenomenon.
Dutch psychiatrist Hermon Sno proposed the idea that memories are like holograms, meaning that you can recreate the entire three-dimensional image from any fragment of the whole. Déjà vu happens when some detail in the environment we are currently in is similar to some remnant of a memory of our past and our brain recreates an entire scene from that from fragment.
Although déjà vu has been studied as a phenomenon for over a hundred years and researchers have advanced tens of theories about its cause, there is no simple explanation for what it s and why it happens. Still the dual processing theory is still considered more logical and valid. Perhaps as technology advances and we learn more about how the brain works, we will learn more of this phenomenon.
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