Déjà vu. It happens to almost to everyone. It is that shadowy feeling you get when you feel like the situation that you are in has occurred before. A scene of traveling in a new city plays out exactly the way how you remember, but that is impossible and it could not be based on earlier experience as it is a new city and you have never been there before. So, what is going on?
Sadly, there is no particular explanation for this experience. This experience last for a short time and goes away without notice. This makes it difficult to record it for the scientists to ponder on. They cannot simply wait for it to happen to them, it doesn't have a pattern of occurrence in time. It could happen after months or years! Scientifically, Déjà vu is classified as a feeling.
Emile Boirac introduced this French term that means "Already seen". Over 40 theories have attempted to explain this phenomenon. Gratefully to the advancements in cognitive psychology and neuro-imaging, the scientists have been able to shortlist 3 most relevant theories.
Assume a restaurant setting for understanding these theories. You are sitting at a table with a table cloth having a design of square patches and a waiter is coming at the table with the food in his hand.
1st theory is Dual Processing. Assume that the waiter is falling with the plates of food. As the scene unfolds, the brain processes numerous information. The waiters arms, the falling food, the aroma of the food, the way the spoon goes, and so on. Within milliseconds, this information is passed through your brain and is processed as only 1 event, i.e. all these events are recorded in your brain in sync. This theory proposes that when there is delay in processing one of these activities, then the brain processes it as another event all together. Thus, when it plays over the already happened moment, it feels like it has happened before.
2nd is the Hologram theory. When you notice the table cloth with a pattern of square patches, a distance memory swings up in the brain of having seen the cloth before. This is because memory is stored in form of holograms, and in holograms only one fragment is need to be able to see the whole picture. The brain calls upon your old memory of having seen this cloth before, rather than identifying it. Thus your brain is stuck in familiarity but no recollection.
The 3rd theory is Divided Attention. This happens when you are in a place but your attention is devoted to only one object. Your brain actually records all the events happening around you below your conscious level. Thus your focus remains on that object, but the brain knows your surroundings also. When you are pulled back from this focus, you are brought back to the conscious level, you feel like you have been in such a situation before and that is because you have and this is happens only because you were not paying attention.
All these three theories, however, are not conclusive proofs of Déjà vu phenomenon.
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Sadly, there is no particular explanation for this experience. This experience last for a short time and goes away without notice. This makes it difficult to record it for the scientists to ponder on. They cannot simply wait for it to happen to them, it doesn't have a pattern of occurrence in time. It could happen after months or years! Scientifically, Déjà vu is classified as a feeling.
Emile Boirac introduced this French term that means "Already seen". Over 40 theories have attempted to explain this phenomenon. Gratefully to the advancements in cognitive psychology and neuro-imaging, the scientists have been able to shortlist 3 most relevant theories.
Assume a restaurant setting for understanding these theories. You are sitting at a table with a table cloth having a design of square patches and a waiter is coming at the table with the food in his hand.
1st theory is Dual Processing. Assume that the waiter is falling with the plates of food. As the scene unfolds, the brain processes numerous information. The waiters arms, the falling food, the aroma of the food, the way the spoon goes, and so on. Within milliseconds, this information is passed through your brain and is processed as only 1 event, i.e. all these events are recorded in your brain in sync. This theory proposes that when there is delay in processing one of these activities, then the brain processes it as another event all together. Thus, when it plays over the already happened moment, it feels like it has happened before.
2nd is the Hologram theory. When you notice the table cloth with a pattern of square patches, a distance memory swings up in the brain of having seen the cloth before. This is because memory is stored in form of holograms, and in holograms only one fragment is need to be able to see the whole picture. The brain calls upon your old memory of having seen this cloth before, rather than identifying it. Thus your brain is stuck in familiarity but no recollection.
The 3rd theory is Divided Attention. This happens when you are in a place but your attention is devoted to only one object. Your brain actually records all the events happening around you below your conscious level. Thus your focus remains on that object, but the brain knows your surroundings also. When you are pulled back from this focus, you are brought back to the conscious level, you feel like you have been in such a situation before and that is because you have and this is happens only because you were not paying attention.
All these three theories, however, are not conclusive proofs of Déjà vu phenomenon.
