Déjà vu, the feeling that a situation is familiar with a situation even though that familiarity is impossible to be true, is an interesting and mysterious subject. For centuries its existence has been discussed and possible theories for its occurrence postulated. The phenomenon, which is estimated to affect anywhere from 31% to 96% of the general population, has so far resisted classification by medical professionals and psychiatrists (Wild, 5).
In this article, Edward Wild briefly explores what the déjà vu phenomenon is and the history of attempts at explanation. In the second part of the article he goes into current research on possible causes or relations between particular parts of the brain as well as certain genes with déjà vu. The first of these modern series of experiments tried to localize the experience to a specific part of the brain. The study looked at epileptic patients since those patients commonly experience a form of déjà vu. The studies found that in the majority of cases the temporal neo-cortex is activated during an experience. They also found that the amygdala, hippocampus, and parahippocampus were also activated during déjà vu experiences. A second study also found that déjà vu experiences activate the temperal lobe, amygdalla, and hippocampus. The second study was able to induce an active experience by stimulating one of those three areas. The author does note that the studies were done on those with psychiatric impairments, so that the results may not be completely comparable to those occurrences in the normal population. Wild also notes the possibility of two different types of déjà vu, one associated with psychiatric impairments such as epilepsy and the other connected to the more common type occurring in healthy individuals. The primary difference is the length of the affliction and the ability of the person experience the event to recognize the event happening.
The second major area of research was in the field of genetics. Researchers studying epilepsy have found a gene (LGI1) that has been found to be mutated in all those patients that experienced déjà vu episodes and those that didn’t experience any episodes were found to have no mutations (Wild, 5). Wild stresses, however, that this “is not a déjà vu” gene. It does not explain the experiences of normal people, who do not have the mutated gene. He merely says that it is a possible avenue to research what LGI1’s affect on the brain is and try and relate that to déjà vu causes and experiences.
I think this study is encouraging. It shows that science may be reaching the point that many of the vague and higher conscious experiences and questions can be answered with medical research and examination. I think that it is an important step into the next level of understanding of our brain and mind. While science has come a long way in understanding how the brain works, we still know relatively little about how the brain’s higher functioning consciousness works in a biological sense.
In a little bit smaller scale, I think the studies discussed in this article show the possible narrowing of causes and reasons behind déjà vu. I think it is very interesting that we are just now in the early stages of beginning to understand why the phenomenon happens. Most people have experienced it at one time or another, and if we are able to eventually understand déjà vu, maybe we can begin to understand other intricacies of how the biological functions of the brain are intricately linked to higher consciousness experiences.
Citation
Wild, Edward. “Déjà vu in Neurology.” Journal of Neurology (2005): 1-7.
brain memory
Deja vu might be caused by hippocampal reconstruction properties where the hipoocampus stores memories by bits and pieces into the temporal/parietal cortex, and then retrieves them later when an event calls for the information that was present in an earlier experience. The hippocampus uses these bits and pieces to construct a picture of how something may have occurred in the past, and then uses that picture to relay the desired action onto other cortical regions. It might be possible that when the hippocampus uses environmental cues to reconstruct a picture, the present cues may have play a large role in how an individual remembers something. I think that manipulation of memory reconstruction could play a key role in psychological therapy and curbing the effects of bad memories or traumatic events as well. In the same way certain environmental cues could trigger a flashback in psychologically injured patients, perhaps manipulation of the same brain processes as used in experiencing deja vu could pair that triggering cue to a less stressful stimulus. Memory manipulation is a really interesting aspect of psychology and understanding these processes will undoubtedly help us understand the underlying processes of the mind.
deja vu
The topic of deja vu is an interesting topic to explore. I honestly am a person who has deja vu all the time, although I don’t really believe in the phenomenon as a real thing or as having a biological basis. Specifically, I experience the traditional feelings of deja vu where I think “this has happened before”, but I also will dream things years in advance, and then it will happen exactly as it did in the dream. I usually keep these experiences to myself because I think it is ridiculous and don’t know how it could possibly have a reasonable explanation. Basically, that’s why I checked out your review. I am surprised there is scientific testing occurring in this subject matter because I would imagine it to be difficult. Deja vu cannot really be predicted in my experience, it just sort of happens so I don’t understand how testing could be reliably performed. I also think there is a large flaw in the research being performed only on individuals with other psychiatric disorders. This experimental component makes the results completely invalid to apply to the majority of the population. For this reason, I question the results of these experiments and feel that they need to be performed on “healthy” subjects in order to have significant results in determining the cause and biological basis (if there is one) for deja vu.
deja vu
The topic of deja vu is an interesting topic to explore. I honestly am a person who has deja vu all the time, although I don’t really believe in the phenomenon as a real thing or as having a biological basis. Specifically, I experience the traditional feelings of deja vu where I think “this has happened before”, but I also will dream things years in advance, and then it will happen exactly as it did in the dream. I usually keep these experiences to myself because I think it is ridiculous and don’t know how it could possibly have a reasonable explanation. Basically, that’s why I checked out your review. I am surprised there is scientific testing occurring in this subject matter because I would imagine it to be difficult. Deja vu cannot really be predicted in my experience, it just sort of happens so I don’t understand how testing could be reliably performed. I also think there is a large flaw in the research being performed only on individuals with other psychiatric disorders. This experimental component makes the results completely invalid to apply to the majority of the population. For this reason, I question the results of these experiments and feel that they need to be performed on “healthy” subjects in order to have significant results in determining the cause and biological basis (if there is one) for deja vu.
deja vu
The topic of deja vu is an interesting topic to explore. I honestly am a person who has deja vu all the time, although I don’t really believe in the phenomenon as a real thing or as having a biological basis. Specifically, I experience the traditional feelings of deja vu where I think “this has happened before”, but I also will dream things years in advance, and then it will happen exactly as it did in the dream. I usually keep these experiences to myself because I think it is ridiculous and don’t know how it could possibly have a reasonable explanation. Basically, that’s why I checked out your review. I am surprised there is scientific testing occurring in this subject matter because I would imagine it to be difficult. Deja vu cannot really be predicted in my experience, it just sort of happens so I don’t understand how testing could be reliably performed. I also think there is a large flaw in the research being performed only on individuals with other psychiatric disorders. This experimental component makes the results completely invalid to apply to the majority of the population. For this reason, I question the results of these experiments and feel that they need to be performed on “healthy” subjects in order to have significant results in determining the cause and biological basis (if there is one) for deja vu.
What does this tell us?
Interesting article. I wonder, though, how much it really tells us about the origins of déjà vu. The temporal lobe, amygdala, and hippocampus do a lot of different things. What is it, specifically, about them that gives rise to déjà vu? All of these are involved in memory, finding out that déjà vu is related to them somehow isn't surprising. What would be more interesting would be to find that some areas of the brain that might be candidates for being involved in déjà vu aren't involved. Ideally, we'd be able to distinguish the source of the feeling from the brain regions involved in expressing or activated by the feeling.
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