Perhaps this happened to every person: a random person on the street seems familiar, and the situation seemed to have happened in the past. However, it is not possible to recall all the circumstances in more detail, or at least to understand the chronology of allegedly already occurring events.
This is called deja vu, and many people think for a long time about what this phenomenon is. Is it mysticism, or is it a symptom of a mental disorder, and why does deja vu arise?
What is deja vu?
Translated deja vu means "seen before," the term comes from France. After all, it was first introduced by a French psychologist by the name of Buarac. Before him, no one dared to investigate and publicize such phenomena, and there was no information about how this strange mechanism worked. And to denote this pseudoscientific phenomenon at that time, the term paramnesia or promnesia was used, that is, “previously experienced”.
How arises and what does it mean?
There are not many answers to the question of how exactly this mechanism works, and what it would mean in general. However, some theories nevertheless appeared, and the scientific world is ready to discuss this phenomenon. Moreover, this is really necessary, because most people treat this phenomenon with great caution, believing that this is one of the symptoms of mental deviation. People do not seek to discuss this or tell anyone, showing a greater desire to forget about everything and live calmly on. This phenomenon can even cause fear, like everything else unknown.And therefore, the opinion of scientists will be very important and relevant here.
What do scientists say?
The study of this phenomenon was carried out by American scientists, and they were able to establish some interesting facts. So, it turned out that deja vu is formed by the hippocampus, a small area of the brain located at the very base. This part of the brain "knows how" to immediately recognize images that are already familiar to man.
As it turned out, the hippocampus also has another interesting “skill” - it is capable of forming unknown images in the head, as well as working with associations, meeting with something else unfamiliar. And he may well form a clear awareness that everything that is seen by a person is already familiar. This will be done on the basis of already available data about what was seen earlier, on the basis of information that the brain already possesses.
But there is another version that explains how deja vu is formed. A number of experts believe that this is simply a failure of human memory, a kind of brain error, when the first thing they see begins to be perceived by them as already known. With the malfunctioning of certain areas of the brain, this really becomes possible, and this has been recorded by specialists. And even more, in the life of every person there are age periods when this becomes most likely.
Practice shows that Malfunctions with memory and the effect of deja vu are most characteristic at the age of 16-18 years, at 35-40 years. It is during these periods that there are peaks of false memories that can so frighten a person.
Be that as it may, neither in the first nor in the second case can we talk about mental deviations. Moreover, the phenomenon is noted by those people who have problems with the psyche not registered in principle. Everyone can face deja vu - and even more than that, in fact, every person has encountered this phenomenon at least once in a lifetime.
The human brain is a very complex organ that has not yet been fully studied. Scientists and doctors admit that many of its functions remain a mystery. And the deja vu effect is just a phenomenon from this sphere. So far, we can only say about the connection of such a manifestation with the hippocampus and that the phenomenon is most characteristic of certain ages.
Perhaps this is just one of the failures in the brain, and from the very typical failures that occurs in almost every person at least once in a lifetime. Although some people are still inclined to give such sudden memories a mystical connotation, indicating the memory of the soul, past lives, and much more. Whether to believe in mysticism, or to remain a skeptic, relying on science - each person has the right to decide this for himself.
