Surely, everyone knows such moments when it seems that a certain event has already happened, or we meet a person whom we have already seen. But here's how it happened and under what circumstances, alas, no one can remember. In this article we will try to understand what deja vu is and why it happens. Are these games that the mind started with us, or some kind of mysticism? How do scientists explain this phenomenon? Why does deja vu happen? Let's take a closer look.
What does deja vu mean?
Literally, this concept is translated as “previously seen”. For the first time this term was used by Emile Buarak - a psychologist from France. In his work “Psychology of the Future”, the author raised and voiced such moments that researchers had not dared to describe before. After all, no one really knew what it was.deja vu and why it happens. And since there is no logical explanation for this, how can one touch on such a sensitive topic? It was this psychologist who first called the effect the term "déjà vu". Before that, such definitions as "paramnesia", "promnesia" were used, which meant "already experienced", "previously seen".
The question of why deja vu occurs to this day remains mysterious and not fully disclosed, although, of course, there are several hypotheses.
Attitude towards this people
If scientists do not always dare to describe the effect and the reasons for its occurrence, then many people are completely afraid of such phenomena. Some people treat the feeling of deja vu with great apprehension, believing that there have been violations in the mental state. Naturally, a person who has experienced this effect on himself does not always strive to share his experiences with loved ones; moreover, he tries to quickly throw it all out of his memory and forget it. Now, if people knew what deja vu is and why it happens, then many of their problems would be solved. After all, all those events, phenomena, sensations that are beyond the explicable, inevitably cause fear. These effects include deja vu. How this word is spelled correctly is a question far from being so relevant and urgent. After all, people are much more interested in finding out what it is - brain games or a dream that we once saw. Let's explore some explanations for this phenomenon.
What do scientists say?
American scientists conducted several studies,to find out how the déjà vu effect occurs. They found that the hippocampus, a specific part of the brain, is responsible for its appearance. After all, it contains specific proteins that enable us to instantly recognize images. In the course of this study, scientists even determined what structure the cells of this part of the brain have. It turns out that as soon as we get to a new place or pay attention to the face of a person, all this information immediately “pops up” in the hippocampus. Where did she come from? Scientists say that its cells create in advance the so-called "cast" of any unfamiliar place or face. It looks like a projection. What happens? Does the human brain program everything in advance?
How were the experiments done?
To better understand what is at stake, let's find out how scientists in the state of Colorado conducted research. So, they chose several subjects, provided them with photographs of famous personalities from different fields of activity, famous people, various sights that are known to everyone.
After that, the subjects were asked to voice the names of the places depicted and the names or names of people. At the moment when they gave their answers, scientists measured their brain activity. It turned out that the hippocampus (we talked about it above) was in a state of full activity even in those respondents who did not even approximately know the correct answer. At the end of the whole event, people said that when they looked at the image and understood that this person or placeunfamiliar to them, certain associations appeared in their minds with what they had already seen before. As a result of this experiment, scientists decided that if the brain is capable of additional associations of known with completely unfamiliar situations, then this is the explanation for the deja vu effect.
Another hypothesis
As we have already said, there are several versions about what deja vu is and why it happens. According to this hypothesis, the effect refers to manifestations of the so-called false memory. If during the work of the brain failures occur in certain areas of it, it begins to take everything unknown for already known. According to experts, false memory does not "work" at any age, it is characterized by certain peaks of activity - from 16 to 18 years old, and also from 35 to 40.
First surge
The scientists explain the first peak of false memory activity by the fact that adolescence is very emotionally expressed in all respects. People at this time react quite dramatically and sharply to current events. The lack of great life experience also plays an important role in why deja vu occurs. This is a kind of compensation, a hint. The effect is manifested when a teenager needs help. In this case, the brain "refers" to a false memory.
Second surge
The second peak falls just on the midlife crisis. This is a turning point in a person's life, when nostalgia for the past is felt, there are certain regrets ordesire to return to the past. Here the brain again comes to the rescue, turns to experience. And this gives us an answer to the question: “Why does deja vu happen?”.
Psychiatrists' point of view
I must say that this hypothesis is significantly different from the previous ones. Doctors do not doubt for a second that the meaning of deja vu cannot be ignored, because it is a mental disorder. And the more often the effect is manifested, the more serious the situation is. They argue that over time this will develop into long-term hallucinations, dangerous both for the person himself and for his environment. Doctors after the studies have noticed that this phenomenon occurs mainly in people suffering from all kinds of memory defects. Parapsychologists do not exclude another version. So, they tend to associate deja vu with reincarnation (transmigration of a person's soul after death to another body). Naturally, modern science does not accept this version.
Any other opinions on this?
For example, in the 19th century, German psychologists explained the effect in an elementary way, as a result of simple fatigue. The thing is that those parts of the brain that are responsible for consciousness and perception are not coordinated with each other, that is, a failure occurs. And it is expressed as a deja vu effect.
America-based physiologist Burnham claimed the opposite. So, he believed that the phenomenon in which we recognize certain objects, actions, faces, is associated with the complete relaxation of the body. When a person is fully rested, his brain is free from difficulties, experiences, thrills. It is in thistime the brain can perceive everything many times faster. It turns out that the subconscious mind is already experiencing moments that may happen to a person in the future.
Many people believe that they know how deja vu occurs, believing that this is the result of dreams that we once had. It is hard to say whether this is true or not, but such an idea exists among scientists as well. The subconscious is able to capture dreams that we had even many years ago, and then reproduce them in parts (many consider this as a prediction of the future).
Freud and Jung
To better understand what deja vu is, let's remember the film about Shurik, when he was so absorbed in reading the synopsis that he did not notice his presence in someone else's apartment, nor the mustard cakes, nor the fan, nor the girl herself Leads. But when he appeared there already consciously, he experienced what we call the deja vu effect. It's just that in this case the viewer knows that Shurik has already been here.
Sigmund Freud at one time described this state as a real memory that was "erased" in the mind under the influence of various adverse factors. It could be trauma or experience. Some force forced a certain image to move into the subconscious, and later there comes a moment at which this "hidden" image suddenly comes out.
Jung connected the effect with the collective unconscious, in fact, with the memory of our ancestors. Which brings us back to biology, reincarnation and other hypotheses.
It turns out, not in vainThey say that everything in the world is interconnected. Maybe in this case it also does not make sense to look for the only correct answer, if only because there is no guarantee that it exists? After all, it is not for nothing that even scientists have not put forward a version that could be fully proved and declared to the whole world that the answer has been found.
In any case, do not be afraid if this effect happens to you. Take it as a hint, as something close to intuition. Remember the main thing: if there was something frightening or really dangerous in the phenomenon, you would already know about it for sure.
