Manuel 1

Nicole Manuel

Interest Project

Mr. Blair

2 November 2017
Deja Vu

Deja Vu may be one of the most confusing and complicated concepts this world can

grasp. Dj vu is French for already seen and its the feeling of already having a memory from

the past and experiencing it again in the present. Deja Vu is usually a common but rare

experience to most people. But why does this happen? How does this happen? What is really

going on in your brain when you experience deja vu?

There are many theories when it comes to how deja vu occurs. The first theory is linked

to seizures and epilepsy. Epilepsy is a disorder in which nerve cell activity in the brain is

disturbed which causes seizures. Research on some patients showed that deja vu was linked to

the seizure activity occurring in the medial temporal lobe, which is the part of your brain

associated with your sensory perception, speech production, and memory. To some patients that

have epilepsy, deja vu is the result of crossed wires. Patients who undergo brain surgery to stop

seizures, wake up to never experiencing deja vu again.

The deja vu hypothesis doesn't only revolve around those who have epilepsy, but also

links to our memory. Imagine you are walking on the beach and you see a tide eat up a

sandcastle, then all of a sudden it triggers deja vu and you feel that you just relived this moment.

Thi may be because your brain may have failed to recall a similar memory such as the present

situation. Your brain probably has the familiarity of walking on the beach then seeing a

sandcastle being destroyed but yet couldnt fully play in your mind therefore it seems as if you

have already had that memory. Anne Cleary, a cognitive psychology professor stated that,

People do have an increased sense of dj vu when the scene has a similar layout, but theyre

failing to recall the source of that familiarity.

 Some people associate deja vu with cryptomnesia. Cryptomnesia is when forgotten

memory returns without it being recognized. A person who experiences cryptomnesia may

falsely recall a thought, scene, or memory, as if it were a new idea to them. Cryptomnesia may

also be known as a so called, memory glitch.

In an investigation of deja vu experimented by the Journal of Clinical Neuroscience, a

man took two different flu medications which caused many deja vu experiences. Dopamine is an

organic chemical that plays several roles throughout your body and brain. In the brain, dopamine

functions as a neurotransmitter, known as chemical messengers which sends signals to other

nerve cells. But during the experiment with the medication, the deja vu experiences discontinued

when the man stopped taking the flu medication. Flu medication is known to interfere with

dopamine activity in your brain. Scientists concluded that the flu medication had altered the

dopamine activity in the mans mind. Scientists believe that dopamine may be the neurochemical

which causes the brain to misfire and confuses us with the present with the past.

There is one more thesis to what may cause deja vu. Sometimes the information that we

see through our eyes doesnt reach our brain at the same time. Information may catch your left

eye first which goes into your visual cortex faster than your right eye which will send the same

memory to your brain twice. Another case is when we may look in one direction as then quickly

forget that memory. Then, as we turn to the other side we have the familiar sensation since you

have forgotten the recent memory. Sometimes deja vu experiences are memories that we have

forgotten from our dreams and the current situation is familiar.

Not many people experience deja vu unlike others. Deja vu occurs mostly to younger

people. At age 25, deja vu experiences decreases as of studies. According to ScienceDaily, 60%-

80% of people experience deja vu. Deja vu tends to happen more to the higher educated and
socioeconomic class. Surprisingly, it also may depend if a person watches a lot of movies and

travels a lot which can trigger familiarity. Research also shows that deja vu is more likely to

happen to those who are under pressure or fatigued.

Not only scientific explanations relate to deja vu, but religion as well. God created us

each with a brain and granted us with this gift of deja vu. Deja vu relates to my faith because

Only God gave us the capacity to recall and make memories with the people he had destined us

to meet. There may be a reason to why we experience moments in our life again. Many people

do think these experiences are caused by memories that we had in our past-life but many

Catholics deny this of course.

When it comes to precognition and deja vu, there are some similarities and differences.

Precognition is the foreknowledge of an event. Many researchers, such as Swiss scientist Arthur

Funkhouser, claim that precognitive dreams are the source of many deja vu experiences. Some

people treat deja vu as a precognition since during the deja vu experience they predict what is

going to happen next and their thoughts are correct and exact. Precognition is knowing what the

future would hold while deja vu is already having seen the moment.

Deja vu applies to my personal life because it does occur to me often. Deja vu has

happened to me ever since I was a toddler and still today it amuses every time. I usually

experience deja vu at least once every other 2 weeks. When I do experience deja vu, I also have

the feeling of precognition where you think of what is going to happen next and it does happen.

Then again, the cause of deja vu is not entirely known. It is a concept that not many may have

understood or experienced. Whether its your brain failing to recall a memory, to seizures, to flu

medications deja vu is remained as a case unsolved.

Works Cited
Cleary, Anne. "Why Deja Vu Can Create an Illusion of Precognition." Psychology Today.

Sussex Publishers, 23 Oct. 2012. Web.

"Dopamine." Psychology Today. Sussex Publishers, n.d. Web.

Julia C. Teale and Akira R. O'Connor. "What Is Dj Vu?" Scientific American Blog

Network. N.p., 03 Mar. 2015. Web.

LaMotte, Sandee. "No, You Haven't Read This Dj Vu Story before." CNN. Cable News

Network, 08 Jan. 2016. Web.

N.p., n.d. Web.

Oakes, Kelly. "This Might Be Why You Get Dj Vu." BuzzFeed. N.p., n.d. Web.

Obringer, Lee Ann. "How Dj Vu Works." HowStuffWorks Science. HowStuffWorks, 11

Apr. 2006. Web.

Obringer, Lee Ann. "How Dj Vu Works." HowStuffWorks Science. HowStuffWorks, 11

Apr. 2006. Web.

ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, n.d. Web.

"What Is Dj Vu?" HowStuffWorks Science. HowStuffWorks, 13 June 2001. Web.

YouTube. YouTube, n.d. Web.