Have you ever felt such as you've done something before or been through a brand new situation? Does it appear to be you understand what's going to occur next? This feeling is usually described as déjà vu. The saying comes from French and means “already seen”.
Some people think that déjà vu is an indication of a possible psychological phenomenon. But there can be other causes on your déjà vu experience.
About 60 to 70 percent of individuals in good health experience a type of déjà vu during their lifetime. A well-known sight or sound can trigger the sensation. You may walk right into a room in a constructing that you have got never visited before, but feel like you understand it intimately. Most feelings of déjà vu disappear quickly, which might make it difficult so that you can remember certain details of the experience.
Déjà vu experiences mostly occur in people between the ages of 15 and 25. As we become older, we are inclined to feel this sense less. If you travel so much or remember your dreams usually, you're more likely than others to experience déjà vu. Someone who's drained or stressed can be vulnerable to feelings of déjà vu. Most people have this experience within the evenings or on weekends.
Memories are stored within the temporal lobe of the brain. This a part of the brain helps us recognize familiar experiences. While science has yet to prove that on a regular basis déjà vu experiences are the results of memories stored within the temporal domain, some researchers consider there may be a connection between the 2.
An experiment conducted to check the idea linking déjà vu to memory involved creating virtual reality scenarios based on the world of the video game Sims. Many who took part within the project ended up having various déjà vu experiences related to scenes just like those seen before.
Some people often feel that déjà vu could help them predict a future event. However, the experiment found that individuals' likelihood of guessing the proper path or finding more accurate answers didn't increase as they played through the virtual reality scenarios. More research is being done to search out out exactly why people experience a sense of déjà vu.
Most people experience déjà vu with none negative health effects. In rare cases, déjà vu generally is a sign of a neurological disorder. People with epilepsy often experience focal seizures that occur in an area of the brain, sometimes the temporal lobe, where we store memories. These are called temporal lobe seizures.
Seizures involve bursts of uncontrolled electrical activity that cause nerve cells within the brain to malfunction. The brevity of focal seizures and the undeniable fact that people typically remain awake after they occur make it difficult to acknowledge what is occurring. People may confuse the person having a focal seizure with daydreaming or looking into the space.
Seizures within the temporal lobe could cause a sense of déjà vu. Signs that chances are you'll be having a temporal lobe seizure, versus a traditional déjà vu experience, include:
- Sudden, inexplicable feelings resembling joy or anger
- Problems controlling your muscles
- Twitching in your muscles
- Having sensations that include sight, taste, smell, hearing, and touch
- The feeling that you just are about to have a seizure
Temporal lobe seizures affect your ability to interact with other people. Most of those last between 30 seconds and minutes. You may lose awareness of your surroundings or notice that you have got been sitting and staring into the space. Others may observe that you just smack your lips or continually chew and swallow in the course of the seizure.
Once the temporal lobe seizure has passed, chances are you'll feel confused. It could also be difficult so that you can speak in the course of the seizure or to recollect what happened. A temporal lobe seizure can turn right into a more serious tonic-clonic seizure (or grand mal seizure), causing convulsions and causing you to lose consciousness.
You must be examined by a health care provider in case you suspect that temporal seizures or other neurological problems could also be causing your feeling of déjà vu. Get help immediately in case you:
- Have seizures that last more than 5 minutes
- Having difficulty gaining control of respiration after a seizure
- Remain unconscious after a seizure
- Having a second seizure after the primary
- Have other medical problems resembling diabetes
- Are currently pregnant
- Injure yourself during a seizure
Seek advice from a health care provider the primary time you have got an attack. Prolonged temporal seizures can shrink the hippocampus, the a part of the brain that helps you learn and control your memory. You can also lose brain cells, which might result in other memory problems.