Ever felt in an entirely new situation or environment but felt like I had experienced something similar before? That is what is called deja vu. In French, this word deja vu means 'never seen or felt'.
70 percent of the human population has experienced deja vu. Generally, the age of 15-25 years most often feel this phenomenon.
Even so, this phenomenon is very difficult to explain. Deja vu resembles a symptom recalling a forgotten dream.
In 2006, scientists at Leeds Memory Group claimed to have found the cause of deja vu. This study uses hypnosis to trigger the brain recognition process. Scientists at Leeds Memory recruited 18 volunteers. They were asked to see 24 common words. After that they were hypnotized.
They were asked to capture the words in the red frame as the same words. While those inside the green frame as words that are not in the list of 24 words.
Once out of hypnosis, participants are given a sequence of words in different color frames, including those not on the original list.
Of all the volunteers, 10 people said that they felt a strange sensation when they saw the new words in the red frame. While 5 others say they feel deja vu.
Over the years, psychologists have found some explanations about deja vu.
Psychologists say that deja vu is a disturbance in short-term and short-term memory circuits in the brain. That is, new information may take a shortcut by going directly into long-term memory.
That is, new information comes in by skipping over the mechanisms normally used by the brain to store information. So, it feels like we have something from the past.
Deja vu can also be associated with the rhinal cortex, an area of the brain that makes humans feel familiar.
Deja vu is definitely associated with fake memory in the sense that this is a type of memory dissociation. How it works by separating the reality from your memory. There are various dissociative experiences that can happen. Sometimes you can not be sure. For example, whether dreaming or experiencing something, whether you see it in the movie or happen in real life.
Recent research on deja vu reveals the progress of views. Psychologist Akira O'Connor says false memories may not be blamed.
But, according to O'Connor, deja vu could be a sign that the brain is checking memory.
To find that out, O'Connor and his team conducted an experiment on 21 volunteers. They were asked to do a series of tests to trigger fake memories. The frontal area of the brain can flip through our memories.
The area then sends a signal if there is a discrepancy between what we think we have experienced and what we have actually experienced.
The area of the brain associated with memory conflicts, not false memories, seems to be driving the deja vu experience.