Striking A Sour Note: The Brain On Déjà Vu
Allow me to propose a hypothetical situation. You’re approaching a never-before-seen space; let’s imagine it is a room. As you take your first step through the door, you are stopped in your tracks. You feel as if you have been here before. But, at the same time, you are aware that you have not. You are solely experiencing a false sensation.
This complex and troublesome ordeal is termed “déjà vu,” something mental health author Crystal Raypole defines as “the uncanny sensation that you’ve already experienced something, even when you know you never have.” So, this deceptive familiarity is something that makes one feel “special, but it’s all reused.”
Olivia Rodrigo’s hit song from her distinguished album, Sour, really hit the nail on the head. And my use of this brainy pun was quite purposeful. What screw is loose in our minds that provides such an illusory perception?
French for “already seen,” déjà vu is nothing extremely unique. In fact, Southern Methodist University psychology professor Alan S. Brown notes that around 60% of the general public has encountered the phenomenon. Brown finds that déjà vu is commonly paired with anxiousness and lethargy, while also frequently emerging in those of higher education and socioeconomic status. Brown proposes four possible scientific explanations for the experience: “dual processing (2 cognitive processes momentarily out of synchrony), neurological (seizure, disruption in neuronal transmission), memory (implicit familiarity of unrecognized stimuli), and attentional (unattended perception followed by attended perception).”
The first rationalization, dual processing, suggests that déjà vu arises when two cognitive processes temporarily misalign, causing a fallacious recognition.
Secondly, Brown’s neurological explanation does not advocate for the argument that déjà vu (only) takes place in those with extreme cerebral damage. Quite the opposite, actually: a University of Pennsylvania medical publication notes that this unnerving experience can occur in a healthy brain. In other words, it is not necessary to panic if you confront a false perception. This justification is related to the potential for epileptic seizures, something that neurology and psychology investigators have proposed may cause the imagined recall as a by-product. Yet, my statement about those of strong well-being remains accurate, as the average layman experiencing déjà vu is not necessarily having a convulsive episode, but instead can be experiencing “abnormal electrical impulses” similar to a “glitch” according to neuroscience writers at Texas A&M Health Science Center College of Medicine.
The third rationale relates to the fact that something in one’s physical location may incite a feeling of familiarity, consequently becoming a stimulus that causes the recollection of a once forgotten memory. This explanation would further suggest a connection to the temporal lobe, the location where memories are constructed and stored. Therefore, there is a possibility for a connection between Brown’s second and third justifications, as nerve cell disturbances (like seizures) in the memory-related temporal lobe may cause déjà vu.
The final explanation details that déjà vu is generated by an initial diversion, which can create a somewhat hallucinatory experience once complete attention is provided. This would imply that someone would have to initially be distracted to confront déjà vu, which is not always the case.
However, with all of this complex reasoning, there is no true answer as to what causes déjà vu. This is due to the fact that the experience is extremely difficult to examine in a lab, as there is no universal stimulus to incite it.
The fact that researchers are settling for complete ambiguity is, to some degree, concerning. For something so familiar and frequent in the population, more investigation is essential to completely understand (and conceivably be able to avoid) déjà vu. If not for the sake of the 40 million adults with anxiety or the two-thirds of the population enduring déjà vu, then scientists should take action for the sake of science itself; scholars must begin to uncover the unknown instead of blaming current methods and difficulties, as this will prevent any type of progress across all academic fields. Déjà vu might seem trivial and unimportant, but in order to truly comprehend how imperative further investigation of the experience is, we must listen to the victims themselves. After his onset of epilepsy, Pat Long is a déjà vu frequenter, and describes the rapid experience as “troubling” and “startling,” with the ability to “destroy your sense of reality.” Despite the fact that déjà vu is not always so exceedingly distressing, allowing for this scientific confusion to continue is synonymous to surrendering any possibility of further knowledge simply because the task is difficult. While this might be a quite sour note, it is time we stop overlooking subjects that initially appear insignificant, because, for some (and in this case, for many), it might be a burdensome aspect of their lives.
References
Brown, A. S. (2003). A review of the déjà vu experience. Psychological Bulletin, 129(3), 394–413. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.129.3.394
Feel Like You’ve Been Here Before? It Might Be Déjà Vu. Penn Medicine. (2019, July 2). Retrieved July 1, 2022, from https://www.pennmedicine.org/updates/blogs/health-and-wellness/2019/july/deja-vu#:~:text=D%C3%A9j%C3%A0%20vu%20is%20a%20common,%E2%80%9Cglitch%E2%80%9D%20in%20the%20brain.
Illman, N. A., Butler, C. R., Souchay, C., & Moulin, C. J. (2012). Déjà experiences in temporal lobe epilepsy. Epilepsy research and treatment, 2012, 539567. https://doi.org/10.1155/2012/539567
Long, P. (2017, May 30). When extreme déjà vu destroys your sense of reality. The Cut. Retrieved July 1, 2022, from https://www.thecut.com/article/when-extreme-dj-vu-destroys-your-sense-of-reality.html
National Alliance on Mental Illness. (n.d.). Anxiety disorders. NAMI. Retrieved July 1, 2022, from https://www.nami.org/About-Mental-Illness/Mental-Health-Conditions/Anxiety-Disorders#:~:text=Over%2040%20million%20adults%20in,develop%20symptoms%20before%20age%2021
Raypole, C. (2020, March 30). What causes Déjà Vu? Healthline. Retrieved July 1, 2022, from https://www.healthline.com/health/mental-health/what-causes-deja-vu
SpinalCord.com. (n.d.). Temporal Lobe: Function, location, and Structure. Temporal Lobe: Function, Location, and Structure. Retrieved July 1, 2022, from https://www.spinalcord.com/temporal-lobe
Thompson, L. (2016, April 18). You asked: What causes Déjà Vu? Vital Record. Retrieved July 1, 2022, from https://vitalrecord.tamhsc.edu/you-asked-deja-vu-causes/?_ga=2.166562749.226426772.1579653874-1488221140.1579653874
YouTube. (2021). Deja vu. YouTube. Retrieved July 1, 2022, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fWgboQNNfB8.
