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
- 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.
- We tend to feel it less as we age, so younger people are more likely to experience déjà vu.
- People who remember their dreams are also more likely to experience déjà vu than others.
- 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.