What exactly is déjà vu?

Answer 1

The term "déjà vu" (IPA:/deʒa vy/) (French for "already seen", also called paramnesia) describes the experience of feeling that one has witnessed or experienced a new situation previously. The term was coined by a French psychic researcher, Émile Boirac (1851–1917) in his book L'Avenir des sciences psychiques (The Future of Psychic Sciences), which expanded upon an essay he wrote while an undergraduate French concentrator at the University of Chicago. The experience of déjà vu is usually accompanied by a compelling sense of familiarity, and also a sense of "eeriness", "strangeness", or "weirdness". The "previous" experience is most frequently attributed to a dream, although in some cases there is a firm sense that the experience "genuinely happened" in the past. Déjà vu has been described as "Remembering the future."

The experience of déjà vu seems to be very common; in formal studies 70% or more of the population report having experienced it at least once. References to the experience of déjà vu are also found in literature of the past, indicating it is not a new phenomenon. It has been extremely difficult to invoke the déjà vu experience in laboratory settings, therefore making it a subject of few empirical studies. Recently, researchers have found ways to recreate this sensation using hypnosis.

Answer 2

It's a feeling you get when you go somewhere or are in a situation that you know that you haven't been in and it's happening. You know what the place looks like or what the outcome of a situation is going to be. I just had a deja vu moment, when I went to meet my in-laws for the first time and I looked at their carpeting in the house. It was a very unique carpeting and I knew I had seen it before, but there was no way I would have known what their house looked like. It really freaked me out.

Answer 3

Deja vu is when one part of the brain interprets a situation a split second after another portion of the brain instead of the whole brain at the same time. It gives the person the feeling that the situation that they just experienced has happened before; often giving the person a strange unsettled feeling.

Answer 4

Deja vu is the idea that you have experienced the same conversation, location, or event previously. It also may be when someone is talking that you instinctively know what they are going to say next. It is like you have already heard the conversation or have been at the same place. It just feels really odd. It's happened to me many times and it always feels really scary.

Answer 5

A definite feeling of being in or experiencing a place or situation before. Usually someplace or a situation that you don't think you've experienced, but feels strongly familiar at the same time. Usually feels strange or erie.

Answer 6

A scene, a person or event which gives you the impression that you have seen or experienced it sometime in the past. More or less like premonitions, which refer to a situation, when future events are foreknown or foreseen, although, premonitions are mostly attributed to supernatural or paranormal activities and experiences.

Answer 7

Most of us r correct and had explain much before me. Now u can take a look at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Déjà_vu

Answer 8

A feeling that the same thing has happened before........A feeling that the same thing has happened before.

Answer 9

it is a french word.

Answer 10

seeing something that you go,Hmm been there and done that before!!!!