You have certainly already felt that you have witnessed a situation that you have already experienced as if you had dreamed it except that it is not a dream but a moment of flutter that seems unreal and Strange feeling. This intriguing sensation is called déjà-vu and remains a mystery to many scientists.
What is the origin of déjà vu?
Several studies have been carried out in order to demonstrate the origin and causes of the déjà vu, but none of them has proved totally conclusive. However, some plausible explanations have been put forward by some psychologists and neurologists. They focused mainly on the temporal lobe, a brain area connected to memory, which is located at the temple. They are convinced that the déjà vu can be linked to this part of the brain but have difficulty in defining the cause.
For this reason, studies have been carried out on people with temporal epilepsy because it is a common symptom during the initial phase of an epileptic seizure. During this phase, the electrical operation of certain neurons is disturbed and affects the medial temporal lobes which causes a sensation of déjà vu. A study conducted by the neurologist Fabrice Batholomei brought together 24 patients with epilepsy and showed that 11% of them experienced a déjà vu.
For the non-epileptic, it has been found that the déjà vu seen especially in those who suffer from stress and anxiety, especially those under 40 years. Exacerbated stress can be a source of disturbance of the temporal lobe region. Researchers at St Andrews University in the UK gathered 21 volunteers and scanners and MRIs. The tests showed that the frontal areas of the brain were activated to check the memory and that they sent signals in case of doubt between what we experienced and what we think we have already experienced. In this case, the sensation of déjà vu would mean that the system connected to the memory functions correctly.
Three hypotheses are put forward
The Hologram Theory
In addition to the neurological aspect, other hypotheses have been proposed to explain the déjà-vu. One finds in particular the "theory of the hologram" which explains that our memories are stored by the brain in the form of holograms and that it is enough just of a part of a memory to visualize the whole image.
The most common example to explain this theory is that of the tablecloth: if you go to the restaurant and you see a tablecloth that reminds you of the one you have seen in friends, the brain will receive a signal and go To assimilate this memory to the present moment by plunging you into a feeling of familiarity without you being able to remember where you first saw this tablecloth.
The theory of double treatment
If your brain is able to analyze multiple items at the same time, it may record information with a small lag. If this is the case, we speak of the theory of "double processing", the last information treated is a very distinct event. Once the brain analyzes the first information, it will already be classified as an older memory and it will feel as if it were to relive an old memory when it is only a matter of minutes.
The theory of divided attention
According to the theory of "divided attention," the brain sometimes assimilates and records information by analyzing the environment subliminally when we are distracted for a few seconds by a particular fact or object. When we cease to be focused and come back to ourselves, we feel we have been there from the beginning, which is the case except that we were not attentive.
None of these theories is a definitive explanation of the sensation of déjà vu, researchers continue to study this unique phenomenon. The next time you feel one, try to find the origin of it based on the theories mentioned in this article. Are you particularly stressed? Have you seen a familiar object? Were you distracted a few seconds? Or maybe that's just another reason?