Surely, everyone is familiar with such moments when it seems that a certain event has already occurred, or we meet a person whom we have already seen. But here is how it was and under what circumstances, alas, no one can remember. In this article we will try to figure out what deja vu is and why it happens. Are these games that the mind started with us, or some kind of mysticism? How do scientists explain this phenomenon? Why does deja vu happen? Let's consider all in more detail.
What does deja vu mean?
Literally, this concept is translated as "previously seen." For the first time, this term was used by Emil Bouarac - a psychologist from France. In his work “Psychology of the Future,” the author raised and voiced such moments that the researchers had not decided to describe before. After all, no one really knew what deja vu was and why it was happening. And since there is no logical explanation for this, how can one touch upon such a sensitive issue? It was this psychologist who first called the effect the term "deja vu." Prior to this, his definitions were used, such as “paramnesia”, “promnesia”, which meant “already tested”, “previously seen”.
The question of why deja vu arises, and to this day remains mysterious and not yet fully resolved, although, of course, there are several hypotheses.
Attitude to this people
If scientists do not always dare to describe the effect and the reasons for its appearance, then many people are completely scared of such phenomena. Some relate to the déjà vu sensation with great caution, believing that there have been disturbances in the mental state. Naturally, a person who has experienced this effect on himself does not always seek to share his experiences with loved ones, moreover, he tries to quickly erase all this from memory and forget it. Now, if people knew what deja vu is and why it happens, then many of their problems would be solved. After all, all those events, phenomena, sensations that are beyond the line of the explicable, inevitably cause fear. Such effects include deja vu. How to spell this word - the question is not so relevant and urgent. After all, people are much more interested to find out what it is - brain games or a dream that we once saw. Let's look at some explanations for this phenomenon.
What do scientists say?
American scientists conducted several studies to find out how the deja vu effect occurs. They found that the hippocampus, a specific part of the brain, is responsible for its appearance. After all, it is in it that there are specific proteins that enable us to instantly recognize images. In the course of this study, scientists even determined what structure the cells of this part of the brain have. It turns out that as soon as we get to a new place or pay attention to the face of a person, all this information immediately “pops up” in the hippocampus. Where did she come from? Scientists say that his cells pre-create the so-called "cast" of any unfamiliar place or face. It turns out something like a projection. What is it? Does the human brain program everything in advance?
How were the experiments conducted?
To better understand what is at stake, let's find out how scientists in Colorado conducted research. So, they selected several subjects, provided them with photographs of famous personalities from different fields of activity, famous people, various attractions that are known to everyone.
After that, the subjects were asked to voice the names of the depicted places and the names or names of people. At that moment, when they gave their answers, scientists measured their brain activity. It turned out that the hippocampus (we spoke about it above) was in a state of full activity even among those respondents who did not even approximately know the correct answer. At the end of the event, people said that when they looked at the image and realized that this person or place was unfamiliar to them, certain associations appeared in their minds with what they had already seen. As a result of this experiment, scientists decided that if the brain is capable of additional associations known with completely unfamiliar situations, then this is the explanation for the deja vu effect.
Another hypothesis
As we have said, there are several versions about what deja vu is and why it happens. According to this hypothesis, the effect refers to the manifestations of the so-called false memory. If during the work of the brain there are failures in certain of its areas, it begins to take everything unknown for what is already known. According to experts, false memory doesn’t “work out” at any age, it has certain peaks of activity - from 16 to 18 years old, as well as from 35 to 40.
First surge
Scientists explain the first peak of false memory activity by the fact that the teenage period is very emotionally expressed in all respects. People at this time are quite dramatic and sharply react to current events. The lack of much life experience also plays an important role in why deja vu happens. This is a kind of compensation, a hint. The effect is manifested when a teenager needs help. In this case, the brain “turns” to false memory.
Second surge
The second peak falls precisely on the midlife crisis. This is a turning point in human life, when you feel nostalgia for the past, there are certain regrets or a desire to return to past years. Here the brain comes to the rescue again, turns to experience. And this gives us the answer to the question: "Why is there deja vu?"
Psychiatrists point of view
I must say that this hypothesis is significantly different from the previous ones. Doctors do not doubt for a second that the value of deja vu cannot be ignored, because this is a mental disorder. And the more often the effect is manifested, the more serious the situation. They argue that over time this will develop into prolonged hallucinations, dangerous for both the person himself and his environment. Doctors after research have noticed that this phenomenon occurs mainly in people suffering from all kinds of memory defects. Parapsychologists do not exclude another version. So, they tend to associate deja vu with reincarnation (the transfer of a person’s soul after death to another body). Naturally, modern science does not accept this version.
What other opinions exist on this?
For example, in the 19th century, German psychologists explained the effect elementarily, as a result of simple fatigue. The thing is that those parts of the brain that are responsible for consciousness and perception are not consistent with each other , that is, a failure occurs. And it is expressed in the form of a deja vu effect.
Physiologist from America Burnham argued the opposite. So, he believed that the phenomenon in which we recognize certain objects, actions, faces, is associated with complete relaxation of the body. When a person has fully rested, his brain is free from difficulties, worries, thrills. It is at this time that the brain can perceive everything many times faster. It turns out that the subconscious mind is already experiencing moments that may happen to a person in the future.
Many people are sure that they know how deja vu arises, believing that this is the result of dreams that we once saw. Whether this is true or not is hard to say, but such an idea also exists among scientists. The subconscious mind can fix dreams that we saw even many years ago, and then reproduce them in parts (many see this as predictions of the future).
Freud and Jung
To better understand what deja vu is, let's recall the film about Shurik, when he was so absorbed in reading the abstract that he did not notice his presence in someone else's apartment, nor the mustard cakes, nor the fan, nor the girl Lida herself. But when he appeared there already consciously, he experienced what we call the deja vu effect. Just in this case, the viewer knows that Shurik has already been here.
Sigmund Freud at one time described this condition as a real memory that was "wiped out" in the mind under the influence of various adverse factors. It could be an injury or an experience. Some kind of force made a certain image move to the area of the subconscious, and later there comes a moment at which this “hidden” image suddenly comes out.
Jung associated the effect with the collective unconscious, in fact, with the memory of our ancestors. And this again leads us to biology, reincarnation, and other other hypotheses.
It turns out, it is not for nothing that they say that everything in the world is interconnected. Maybe in this case it also makes no sense to look for the only correct answer, if only because there is no guarantee that it exists? After all, it is not in vain that even scientists did not put forward the version that could be fully proved and declared to the whole world that the answer was found.
In any case, do not be afraid if such an effect occurs to you. Take it as a hint, as something close to intuition. Remember the main thing: if there was something frightening or really dangerous in the phenomenon, you would already know for sure.