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NEWS > SCIENCE > DEJA VU TIED TO FAMILIARITY TO THE PAST DEJA VU TIED TO FAMILIARITY TO THE PAST

DEJA VU TIED TO FAMILIARITY TO THE PAST DEJA VU TIED TO FAMILIARITY TO THE PAST

December 1 2008

Fort Collins, CO – Déjà Vu, the feeling that you have been in the same place experiencing the same thing, is something that has affected all of us at one point or another, or another. Now researchers have uncovered a possible reason for the occurrence, though the explanation comes as little surprise to those experiencing the phenomenon again and again.

“Many parallels between explanations of déjà vu and theories of human recognition memory exist,” said Anne Cleary of Colorado State University. “Theories of familiarity-based recognition and the laboratory methods used to study it may be especially useful for elucidating the processes underlying déjà vu experiences.”

A report published in Current Directions in Psychological Science states that déjà vu occurs when a current situation resembles a situation that has previously occurred in one’s life. When multiple elements of the two situations overlap, the feeling of familiarity is sparked.

“What we found was that people retain fragments of memory and they then subconsciously reconstruct the occurrence,” continued Cleary. “The mind fills in the gaps and it appears as though an event is reoccurring, but it is an entirely new happening.”

A report published in Current Directions in Psychological Science states that déjà vu occurs when a current situation resembles a situation that has previously occurred in one’s life. When multiple elements of the two situations overlap, the feeling of familiarity is sparked.

The researchers hope that they can use this research to uncover some of the mysteries of the human mind, and do away with the notion that Déjà Vu is somehow a mystical or otherworldly experience.

“We want people to understand that these are not visions into the past, at least not in the traditional sense,” continued Cleary. “Memories obviously give us a foothold in the past and our recollection of them is a form of time travel. We do want people to understand that this is an occurrence of the human condition though and not something mystical.”

Of course most in the scientific community have long dismissed the idea of the happenings of Déjà Vu as anything other than a natural occurrence of the human brain. Even those less familiar with the scientific logic behind the occurrence generally dismiss it as little more than an interesting occurrence.

“I don’t know of anyone who has seen déjà vu as anything other than a neat little thing that happens occasionally. I don’t know of anyone who came away from one of those experiences believing they had somehow just had some kind of vision,” said Scrape TV Science analyst Dr. Howard Poe. “”Research into the oddities of the human mind and human experience can be nothing but beneficial, but there comes a time when researchers end up telling us exactly what we knew or suspected all along. Logic it seems doesn’t come into play when it comes to grant money. Nonetheless, someone could probably use this research for something, someday, as long as they remember it was done.”  

Anna Phillips, Science Correspondent

NEWS > SCIENCE > DEJA VU TIED TO FAMILIARITY TO THE PAST DEJA VU TIED TO FAMILIARITY TO THE PAST