why you get déjà vu

Déjà vu, a French phrase that means “already seen”, is a feeling that you have already lived an identical experience in the past, even when you know you haven’t. According to PubMed, 97% of the population have experienced déjà vu at least once in their lifetime, and 67% experience it on a regular basis. As one of the 67%, the concept of déjà vu has intrigued me for so long, and here’s what I found.

The thin line between déjà vu and familiarity lies in déjà vu’s unsettling sense of the experience, despite knowing you’ve never lived it. Unlike déjà vu, familiarity is a more comfortable recognition of an experience without the eerie sense of repetition.

While it may not be a glitch in the matrix, the most suggested theory is that it’s a glitch in the brain.

One of the many theories suggests that déjà vu occurs as a result of a momentary glitch in the memory retrieval process, where a new experience is mistakenly perceived as a past one.

Another theory suggests that sometimes, short-term memories take shortcuts to the long-term memory stage. Hence, causing you to feel like you’re retrieving a long-term memory rather than a short-term one.

Some even suggest that due to the brain’s ability to create false memories, a feeling of false familiarity is also created.

Though the exact cause of déjà vu remains unknown, researchers have found a few other things about it.

what researchers have found

  1. The feeling usually lasts for a few seconds; often no more than a minute. However, in very rare cases, it may last for several minutes, hours or even day-long.
  2. We tend to feel it less as we age, so younger people are more likely to experience déjà vu.
  3. People who remember their dreams are also more likely to experience déjà vu than others.
  4. Most people experience it in the evenings or during weekends.

It’s said that the occasional feeling is nothing to worry about. But, because it may be a sign of underlying health conditions like seizures, migraines, and other disorders that affect the memory, you should see a doctor if you start experiencing it more often than usual.


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