Déjà vu 1

The Psychology of Déjà vu

Lucas Buiatti

Intro to Psychology

November 3, 2011
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The Psychology of Déjà vu

Déjà vu is an incredible phenomenon that occurs all over the world. It is defined as a feeling of

having already experienced the present situation. Déjà vu is a French word that literally

translates “already seen”. This sensation occurs from once a month, to once a year for most

people. Although there have been cases recorded where people were said to be having déjà vu

every day (Sno, 2000).There are many theories as to why déjà vu occurs. The two most popular

explanations that are brought up when discussing déjà vu are the double perception theory and

the Neurological Explanations of Déjà vu. Both of these theories will be described in detail

within this essay.

The Double Perception Theory

(Dixon, 1971), the double perception theory emphasizes a momentary break in your ongoing

perceptional process. This short break gives rise to an impression of two separate and duplicated

experiences. The double perception theory can occur in a total of four ways.

 The Perceptual Gap

This is where some physical or environmental distraction slices through your ongoing

perceptual experience splitting it into two separate experiences.

 Degraded Perceptual Experience

Where an initial perceptual experience is degraded, possibly by diminished energy, and is

immediately followed by a full perception of the same scene.

 Indirect Initial Perception

When a perceptual stimulus is recorded peripherally as we focus on a different aspect of

the experience. When this occurs our attention is now focused toward the previously
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peripheral element, and this full registration matches the one made incidentally only

moments ago.

 Emotional Reverberation

This involves your inner perception of an emotional reaction. When a rapid recycling of

an emotional response to the situation occurs, the second wave of emotions is duplicated

causing a heightened sense of familiarity.

The Perceptual Gap

A perceptual gap occurs when we perceive a situation under full attention, then perceive it again

also under full attention after some physical or environmental distraction. Once observed the two

experiences match up and give us the feeling of having already been in that situation. This

suggests that we sometimes perceive the same situation more than once. We fail to identify the

source of the first perception as moments ago; instead we associated with a distant past, causing

the déjà vu feeling. “The disruption in the perception could be caused by a sound, picture or

possibly even a blink of an eye” ( Dixon, 1971).

Degraded Perceptual Experience

Degraded perceptual experience (DPE) can be caused by diminished attention. It is important to

understand the difference between the two positions perceptual gap and DPE. In the perceptual

gap both of the perceptions were observed at full awareness although with the DPE interpretation

the first perception is not as well-defined as the second succeeding perception. The idea of DPE

expresses that we subconsciously perceive our surrounding, without paying much attention. Then

when we analyze our surroundings under full attention we get the feeling we’ve experienced it
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before (Whitehouse, 1989). This experience can be caused by daydreaming, distraction, or

reduced energy according to Whitehouse.

Indirect Initial Perception

This occurs when you first perceive a situation peripherally, followed by a second perception

where the stimulus that was first peripheral now becomes focal. Unlike the previous double

perception theories, this section assumes that the stimulus is first perceived peripherally, then

focally. This can be a cause of inattentional blindness or misdirected attention. There are many

stimuli outside of our immediate focus of attention. Although the extraneous stimulus is not

noticed consciously it still gets processed, then once we focus in on it, it gives us a feeling of

Déjà vu.

Emotional Reverberation

The last double perception explanation of déjà vu relates to our inner, sentimental world and how

we monitor our emotions. Experiences can appear to be duplicated based on emotion. This

theory suggests that an emotional reaction to a situation will occasionally come in cycles, and

repeat itself even though the stimulus has ended (Wilson, 1929). When a wave of feeling sweeps

through us and another fainter wave of feeling follows, the second feeling will be taken for an

unclear memory. The resemblance between the two feelings, along with a difference in intensity

is what throws the second feeling into a distance which causes the feeling of déjà vu.
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Neurological Explanations of Déjà vu

A way of scientifically explaining the déjà vu experience is that it is a byproduct of momentary

biological dysfunction in the brain. This can happen at a global level such as temporal lobe

seizures. It can also occur at a micro level involving either slowed or increased synaptic

transmission along specific pathways.

Spontaneous Brain Activity

Inside your brain there are always spontaneous electrical firings that are unrelated to what is

happening in the external world. These spontaneous firings sometimes affect the cognitive

centers involved with memory. People believe that this event causes a false feeling of familiarity

which we interpret as déjà vu. This theory is very well supported by the connection of epilepsy

and déjà vu, because déjà vu is part of the preseizure aura in some temporal lobe epilepsies.

Although unproven many people believe that the scientific cause of déjà vu is a result of small

temporal lobe seizures (Wilson, 1929).

Alteration of Neural Transmission Speed

This neurological interpretation of déjà vu is based on a specific disruption in the speed of

incoming information transmission along specific neural tracks. This theory adopts the idea that

a slight alteration in the timing of the information flow can lead to a false interpretation that the

current situation has been experienced before. When neural transmission is speed up it facilitates

the perception process. When we perceive something at a faster than normal rate we tend to

associate that with having experienced the situation before, Déjà vu (Sno, 2000).
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Conclusion

Déjà vu occurs to the majority of the population, if it has not occurred to you chances are it will

happen to you sometime in your life. Many people believe that if we better understood how or

why déjà vu occurs it will lead to a better understanding of how the brain works all together. The

double perception theory and the neurological explanations of déjà vu provide a lot of insight as

to what occurs when déjà vu is taking place, but these are just the tip of the iceberg.
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References

Allin, A. (1896). Recognition. American Journal of Psychology.

Allin, A. (1896). Recognition. American Journal of Psychology. 249-273.
Brown, A. S. (2004). The Deja vu Experience. New York, NY: Psychology Press.
Dixon. (1971). Subliminal perception. London: McGraw-Hill.
Erdelyi. (1996). The Recovery of unconscious memories. Chicago: University of Chicago.
Sands, H. (1982). Epilepsy. New York: Brunner/Mazel .
Sno. (2000). Deja vu and jamais vu. Cambridge University Press.
Whitehouse, J. a. (1989). An illusion of memory. Journal of Experimental Psychology.
Whitehouse, J. a. (1989). An illusion of memory. Journal of Experimental Psychology 126-145.
Wilson, K. (1929). Modern problems in neurology. New York: William Wood.