what causes deja vu?

Answer 1

The term déjà vu is French and means, literally, "already seen." Those who have experienced the feeling describe it as an overwhelming sense of familiarity with something that shouldn't be familiar at all. Say, for example, you are traveling to England for the first time. You are touring a cathedral, and suddenly it seems as if you have been in that very spot before. Or maybe you are having dinner with a group of friends, discussing some current political topic, and you have the feeling that you've already experienced this very thing -- same friends, same dinner, same topic.

The phenomenon is rather complex, and there are many different theories as to why déjà vu happens. Swiss scholar Arthur Funkhouser suggests that there are several "déjà experiences" and asserts that in order to better study the phenomenon, the nuances between the experiences need to be noted. In the examples mentioned above, Funkhouser would describe the first incidence as déjà visité ("already visited") and the second as déjà vecu ("already experienced or lived through").

Answer 2

Here's another theory, not already mentioned. A deja vu is a memory from the future.

When an event occurs, an example is when you visit a new place or meet someone for the first time, a message is sent back in time (this need only be a fraction of a second). So when you have a deja vu the memory is not from the past but from the future.

This theory was proposed by an American (Joe McMoneagle) who was employed by the US military for research into a phenomenon called Remote Viewing.

Answer 3

Psychologists will tell you it happens when the brain fails to process a scene for some reason. They don't know why it happens, but it's like clicking the Refresh button on your browser when the page doesn't load correctly, which causes us to think that we have experienced the scene before.

those that believe in past lives know that there are two types of deja vu. The first is a mild kind where we think a certain scene has happened before, while the other is a much stronger form, where you could go over to Africa, without ANY knowledge of where you are, yet you can point out landmarks and certain things before even a tour guide could, as if you used to live there when it's obvious that you have not even looked the place up on the internet.

Answer 4

The term déjà vu is French and means, literally, "already seen." Those who have experienced the feeling describe it as an overwhelming sense of familiarity with something that shouldn't be familiar at all. Say, for example, you are traveling to England for the first time. You are touring a cathedral, and suddenly it seems as if you have been in that very spot before. Or maybe you are having dinner with a group of friends, discussing some current political topic, and you have the feeling that you've already experienced this very thing -- same friends, same dinner, same topic.

The phenomenon is rather complex, and there are many different theories as to why déjà vu happens. Swiss scholar Arthur Funkhouser suggests that there are several "déjà experiences" and asserts that in order to better study the phenomenon, the nuances between the experiences need to be noted. In the examples mentioned above, Funkhouser would describe the first incidence as déjà visité ("already visited") and the second as déjà vecu ("already experienced or lived through").

As much as 70 percent of the population reports having experienced some form of déjà vu. A higher number of incidents occurs in people 15 to 25 years old than in any other age group.

Déjà vu has been firmly associated with temporal-lobe epilepsy. Reportedly, déjà vu can occur just prior to a temporal-lobe epileptic attack. People suffering an epileptic seizure of this kind can experience déjà vu during the actual seizure activity or in the moments between convulsions.

Since déjà vu occurs in individuals with and without a medical condition, there is much speculation as to how and why this phenomenon happens. Several psychoanalysts attribute déjà vu to simple fantasy or wish fulfillment, while some psychiatrists ascribe it to a mismatching in the brain that causes the brain to mistake the present for the past. Many parapsychologists believe it is related to a past-life experience. Obviously, there is more investigation to be done.

In recent years, déjà vu has been subjected to serious psychological and neurophysiological research. The most likely candidate for explanation is that déjà vu is not an act of "precognition" or "prophecy" but is actually an anomaly of memory; it is the impression that an experience is "being recalled" which is false.[citation needed] This is substantiated to an extent by the fact that in most cases the sense of "recollection" at the time is strong, but any circumstances of the "previous" experience (when, where and how the earlier experience occurred) are quite uncertain. Likewise, as time passes, subjects can exhibit a strong recollection of having the "unsettling" experience of déjà vu itself, but little to no recollection of the specifics of the event(s) or circumstances they were "remembering" when they had the déjà vu experience, and in particular, this may result from an overlap between the neurological systems responsible for short-term memory (events which are perceived as being in the present) and those responsible for long-term memory (events which are perceived as being in the past).

Answer 5

I think its the fact that the brain works a bit like a tape recorder at times and its simply gone into rewind in effect and goes into playback mode for some reason.

Answer 6

Groundhog Day? Ask Bill Murray!

Answer 7

I think sometimes it is revisiting a place or
thing that your conscious mind tossed in the
recycler,others, its a sort of premonition, if
you will,indicating that a particular decision
or incidence will greatly impact your life.

Answer 8

one theory is that it is a short circuit in your brain, where the thing you are experiencing, instead of going into your short term memory, goes straight into your long term memeory, and because you generally only access this memory when you have been there before, you feel as if you have....its just bypassing your short term memory...

Answer 9

Bad memory.
People forget something, then they get a hint of a reminder and they think they're back from a previous life.

Muppets. Get an education.

Answer 10

I'm sure I heard it's somethging to do with seeing something twice, ie your eyes register something a split second before your brain registers it.