Samyukta Kulkarni Week 14: Again and Again and Again
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Yesterday, I walked into a new place I have never been to yet I couldn’t shake the feeling that everything in the room was oddly familiar, like I have been there before but have no memory attached to the situation. It started to make me question: have I been here before?
This overwhelming feeling of familiarity is known as déjà vu and most of us have experienced it randomly at some point in our lives. According to doctor Akira Robert O’Connor, déjà vu occurs when the parts of our brain that are meant to recognize familiar situations get activated inappropriately. When there are no actual matches found, we get that eerie feeling of having seen or experienced something before and we recognize that it is a new experience.
In spontaneous déjà vu experiences, the medial temporal lobe, which is responsible for retrieving memories, may fire erratically for no reason. This is why younger individuals experience déjà vu more than older ones. Their brains are more likely to fire quickly and are more active.
However, some people are not able to realize that they have made a mistake. In dementia patients, they experience the feeling of familiarity without realizing that it is an error and go about their day as if they have actually seen it all before. Older people are less likely to recognize a false sense of familiarity due to their aged frontal cortex.
That odd feeling I experienced yesterday of a place being new yet somehow familiar is what déjà vu is all about. It’s our brain’s way of processing a new experience through a misfire, which can create that strange sense of repetition.
Hi Samyukta! I like your approach to this topic, explaining not only what deja vu, something everyone experiences frequently, is, but also explaining the science behind it. I've heard many "theories" regarding deja vu and why it happens, most taken from a spiritual perspective, but I like how it's less of a spiritual event and rather has a scientific background. Whenever I experience deja vu, I start to dissociate and spend way too long trying to understand what I'm feeling, so it's nice to now know what specifically is going on and why I'm experiencing this once inexplainable feeling. What makes this even more intriguing is how it connects to AP Psychology, a class I think many people in our english class are taking. Deja vu has been a reoccuring topic which made your blog more appealing, and I feel like I've not only expanded my general knowledge on this topic, but now know how to apply it to real life.
ReplyDeleteHello, Samyukta! The phenomenon of déjà vu is a fascinating one, so I was thrilled to see someone explore it. I, like many others, have definitely experienced this “eerie feeling,” as you describe it, before, but I never truly stopped to understand why I was feeling this feeling, for a lack of better words. It was incredibly interesting to learn the possible scientific explanation for déjà vu, and specifically, I liked learning the cognitive functions behind this sensation: it was interesting to read some familiar concepts from AP Psychology here! I remember learning about temporal lobe and frontal cortex, so it was some nice applied knowledge in my case. Furthermore, the way you explain déjà vu in the context of dementia added to your blog in a well-rounded way. I liked your approach to this blog in that it was not necessarily a recalling of a memory of yours, but rather a more scientific take on the topic. Your post this week was undoubtedly fascinating, so thank you for writing it!
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