Déjà vu effect – what is it? Types of déjà vu and causes of it.

The human brain is a unique organ, and people have learned to use only a few percent of its abilities. The abilities of the nervous system allow people to experience various kinds of feelings and emotions, among which rather unusual sensations of reality already lived may appear. Developing and discovering new facets of their subconsciousness, people sometimes encounter difficult-to-explain phenomena, for example, the effect of déjà vu.

As in the study of any other phenomenon, the opinions of scientists regarding the manifestation of the déjà vu effect were divided: some consider it a sign of mental illness, while others consider it a sign of genius. However, for the most part, the manifestation of the phenomenon is associated with the peculiarities of the functioning of the human brain, for which today there are some grounds.

What is the history of the origin of the term?

The term "déjà vu" is of French origin and literally means "already seen". For the first time the term was applied by Emile Bouarak, who was a scientist in the field of psychology and created the book "The Future of Psychical Sciences." The peculiarity of déjà vu is that the feeling experienced has absolutely nothing to do with any experienced moment, but has a relative character to the past.

What are the causes of the emergence of déjà vu?

Many specialists in various fields of psychology are studying the causes of the emergence of complex phenomena of human consciousness.

Despite the fact that many years of study of the phenomenon of deja vu did not allow to reveal one hundred percent of the cause of its occurrence, scientists have identified its possible prerequisites. The emergence of deceptive and simulated memories occurs in the brain, located in the temporal lobe and called the "hippocampus". It is the temporal lobe that is responsible for receiving and analyzing the perceived information.

Violation of the stability of the functioning of the hippocampus can lead to failure in the introduction of information received by a person, which can presumably cause the appearance of the deja vu effect. This is due to the fact that the memory center accepts information without analysis, which entails recovery after a few fractions of seconds. In this case, the information received again goes for processing and is perceived by human consciousness as already familiar. This is what allows the formation of false memories in the mind.

Besides that a number of researches allow suggesting that the following conditions may affect the emergence of déjà vu effect:
• physical condition
• psychical deviations
• numerous stresses and shocks
• the difference and stability of atmospheric pressure
• highly developed intellect
• intuitive abilities

As for explanations for the above-mentioned reasons for déjà vu, one can mention that when our conscience gets into the unknown environment, the system of stress prevention is turned on, which leads to detailed analyses of facts known to our brain and search for the well-known images. At the same time, spontaneous sources and elements of information are formed.

It is important to mention that déjà vu effect may appear both in absolutely healthy people, and people with psychic deviations and neurological diseases; it is especially often found in people suffering from epilepsy. Besides that the cases of déjà vu were observed after brain traumas.

It is impossible to characterize the déjà vu effect as positive or negative phenomena. Among the results of déjà vu one can mention:
• the feeling of reality loss;
• illusion of the events taking place being unnatural;
• the feeling of time loss.

It is also known that you can not provoke the déjà vu effect in artificial way, this feeling comes spontaneously.

The consequences of déjà vu effect depend directly on the type of the phenomena.

Types of déjà vu.

The scientists have distinguished several kinds of déjà vu nowadays. Among them we can find the following:
• déjà vécu – experiencing the feeling that the circumstances are already known to person in detail and are hidden in present time. The manifestation of the phenomenon is accompanied by the feeling that both the smells and sounds were familiar before and the further events may be predicted by the person;
• déjà visité – means the ability to navigate well in the place the person has never been to before;
• déjà senti – means the manifestation of brain activity when the person has fake memories of the feelings he experienced. The phenomenon is accompanied by the feeling that you know the voice, sound of book episode;
• presque vu – means the kind of déjà vu when you experience the suspicious feeling that you will have the enlightenment soon and will be able to decipher something that nobody can. One of the most common examples of presque vu is when you feel that the word you are trying to remember is on the tip of your tongue, and you feel that you are about to remember it.
• jamais vu – is not the most pleasant condition when the person feels lost in space and the environment he knows becomes unrecognizable for him;
• staircase wit (L’espirit de l’escalier) – was detected not long ago. It means delayed correct decision when the person suddenly realizes it because of some circumstances, but unfortunately, this decision/reply is already useless because it is already late.

Studies of the phenomenon allow us to associate the emergence of déjà vu with brain fatigue which allows forming possible solution for getting rid of this effect.

In case of short-living appearance of déjà vu there are no reasons for worries. But when you have unexplainable sensations pretty often and they last several minutes or hours, it is worth visiting professional psychotherapists in order to prevent possible serious consequences.

According to scientists, the most effective ways to prevent the déjà vu effect causes by brain fatigue are the following:
• healthy restful sleep;
• physical exercises on fresh air;
• practicing different kinds of relaxation;
• maximum limitation of brain workload.