Deja vu- What lies behind the mystery?

The Mystery of Déjà Vu

How many times have you experienced that weird feeling upon visting or being in a completely strange place, and yet, somehow having a familiar sensation about it? Has it maybe happened that while you are talking to a friend about a particular topic, you feel like you have had this same conversation before?

You are sitting at the table, in this new restaurant in town, the waiter coming to take your order, and you can't get rid of this feeling you have already been in the same place, talking to the same waiter, ordering the same dish. How can that be?

To some, the sensation feels dreamlike, while to others, the feeling experienced is so real that they are sure (even though they don’t remember or know exactly how) the event actually happened in the past.

Research shows the as much as 70% of the population (research conducted in the USA) has experienced déjà vu at some point in their life, the phenomenon being common among adults and children alike.

The theories explaining the phenomenon are various, the following three among the most common ones.

1. Past life experiences

Some hold déjà vu has to do with past life experiences, being rebirthed into a new body or other life form. In their belief, déjà vu experiences are glimpses of memories from a former life you may have once lived. A strange form of déjà vu involves children. There have been documented cases of very young children that are able to speak, talking about people and past lives. No one has been able to explain this satisfactorily. Such is the case of a little girl who was just about two years old when she started speaking her first full sentences. Her mother was amazed to hear her daughter says she was now someone else and was going to take her vows as a nun. She went on to describe her duties in the convent including night prays. She even talked about her own death.

2. Memory flaws

Another explanation is that of a malfunctioning of the memory, which gives the impression you are recalling a something, which “has really happened”. This explanation is substantiated by the fact that the sense of "recollection" at the time is strong in most cases, but that the circumstances of the "previous" experience (when, where, and how the earlier experience occurred) are quite uncertain.

3. Vision

Another theory being explored is that of vision. The theory suggests that one eye may record what is seen fractionally faster than the other, creating the "strong recollection" sensation upon the "same" scene being viewed milliseconds later by the opposite eye. However, this theory fails to explain the phenomenon when other sensory inputs are involved, such as hearing or touch.

There are many ways in which déjà experience may manifest. Some of these have specific names and include:

deja entendu = already heard

deja eprouve = already tried

deja pense = already thought

deja raconte = already told

deja vecu = already lived through or experienced

deja trouve = already met

deja voulu = already wanted

deja senti = already felt

There even exist negative or reversed forms in which the person denies recognizing what must be familiar or claims not to remember having said something which others are sure that he did. These phenomena are designated jamais vu and jamais raconté (never seen or told) (see following section).

As a closing note, whatever the right explanation for this phenomenon one thing is sure, it has and will continue to astound human beings and it will always be questioned, regarding to the believes of the one who is experiencing it.

References:

-Wikipedia

-Neppe Déjà Vu Research and Theory