Talk:Déjà vu

Completing others' sentences

All this science stuff is nice and all, but how does it account for people completing other people's sentences when they experience déjà vu? I've had people do this to me sometimes, and I do so as well whenever I have déjà vu - it seems the normal thing to do, spout out whatever they're about to say. Anyway, I'm sure this, in some cases at least, precludes the idea of it just being some wierd memory lapse; there must have been some studies into the effect. Perhaps it only happens when you know someone well and can predict what they are about to say simply on those grounds, but that seems unlikely because people don't often know each other well enough for that. [from 217.235.119.108]

You are referring to a phenomenon called tip of the tongue (TOT), but TOT is not deja vu. When your friend completes your sentence, it is usually because you have paused, trying to recall the right word, when your friend knows from the context what the elusive word is. To be helpful, your friend suggests the elusive word. Deja vu is a feeling that a present situation has occurred before, but the details are elusive. Jeja vu is not merely having difficulty in recalling a past event, but rather results from the impossibility of recalling an event that never happened, until now. Greensburger (talk) 17:52, 17 November 2007 (UTC)

Discuss the article, not the topic!

This is not the place to discuss your experiences with Deja vu. Please restrict postings on this page to discussions about the article, not the topic. Gigs 07:15, 10 July 2007 (UTC)

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I thought I'd jump in before the new agers start to cry foul. I've tried to be fair in this article, to not dismiss any 'parapsychological' explanations out of hand, but to weigh in with scientific evaluations. There no definitive scientific answer, the most accepted explanation remains a conjecture and I have clearly identified it as such. The link between epilepsy and deja vu is confirmed, and the fact that everyone has occasional mild epilectic seizures is also confirmed, and this does give strong circumstantial support to the electrophysiological explanation. Others can be found in psychology books.

My research on these matters involved the "Oxford Companion to the Mind" and numerous websites. - MMGB

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It's been a topic in cognitive psychology since at least 1987, when I had my first college course in cognitive psych. --LMS

I expected as much - I've never studied psychology, but I encountered it in my courses on neurophysiology - MMGB

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I can't find a reference offhand, but wasn't there a kind of silicon associative memory chip that had a failure mode wherein it would sometimes incorrectly "remember" its input? --LDC

Jamais-deja?

While reading this article I remembered a kinda weird childhood experience. (When I was a young child, I frequently experienced hallucinations and deja-vu.) All that actually happened was that I was looking out a window while I was in the car with my parents. We drove past a toy store that we had driven by many times in the past under similar conditions, including me looking out the same window. However, this time, I got the sensation that I had not seen it before but was nevertheless feeling like I had. The feeling of deja vu accompanied it. In other words, I was suffering deja vu INSIDE jamais vu. In other other words, I thought I was experiencing deja vu but didn't know that I actually had seen it before. Am I wrong, or is this really weird? Also is it weird that I used to get deja-vu, hallucinations, and synesthesia so often? (I still do have synesthesia, just not as strongly.)

This is Deja Vu?

For example, I am performing a certain action in a certain location, and suddenly I get a feeling of having seen or done this before.

Yes this would be Deja Vu...

Deja Vu is demonic

Yes, "man get a feeling of having seen or done this before." Why? Because the demons are capable the brain of humans to affect. All people are dreaming in night as a normal phenomenon. But some dreams are not normal dreams. Some dreams comes from demons. Man does not recollect a dream in the morning, if man gets in night so an unnaturally dream. Because the dream in brain is so scheduled one's time. So the dream is not lost. It is in mind and the person will recall it again. The next step is that the person experience the dream in due time. The next step is also arranged from demons and it is not fortuitous event. Deja Vu is spiritism and it is connected with spirits.

Comparison: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Afterlife#Why_believe_many_people_an_afterlife.3F

--78.177.191.94 (talk) 01:05, 26 July 2008 (UTC)

Comparison: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_talk:78.177.191.94--81.215.231.76 (talk) 17:52, 2 September 2008 (UTC)

Dewandh: This information provided on top is a total LIE, unless you're a satanist. If one believes in demons one MUST believe in GOD and GOD speaks in the BIBLE about dreams & visions (Numbers 12:6, Joel 2:28-32, Acts 2:17-19). GOD uses them to speak to his children, HIS creation, wheater you're saved or not, for he loves ALL men equal. When you sleep your brain is unoccupied by anything and this is when GOD uses the time to speak to you, for your mind is not occupied by any person, Television, music nor daily troubles! Some dreams do come from your subconscious mind, depending on what happened before and what mood you went to sleep. If it was demonic everything you dream about and what WILL happen WILL be evil and bad for satan and his demons are all that is not righteous, truthful, caring, loving. My opinion is that GOD reveals certain happenings/prophesies that will occur in the future just to show man kind that there is a greater power and THAT IS THE LOVE OF Y'shua (Jesus Christ), for Jesus Christ is not the only thing we NEED HE is the ONLY thing we've GOT!! The BIBLE is the ONLY book that over the ages could not be proven wrong nor fiction by ALL the greatest mind on this wicked earth. So ask yourself, if there was no GOD as our great and powerful GOD why has Christianity never DIED out, it's just expanding & increasing!? There is too much of coincidences, not to believe that all was created by HIM! Why wonder or worry about things, all the answers ARE in the BIBLE, you just have to look for it!! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 41.246.97.229 (talk) 08:06, 13 November 2008 (UTC)

Jeremiah 27:9

So do not listen to your prophets, your diviners, your interpreters of dreams, your mediums or your sorcerers who tell you, 'You will not serve the king of Babylon.' 10 They prophesy lies to you that will only serve to remove you far from your lands; I will banish you and you will perish. 11 But if any nation will bow its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon and serve him, I will let that nation remain in its own land to till it and to live there, declares the LORD.'

Job 7 13 When I think my bed will comfort me and my couch will ease my complaint, 14 even then you frighten me with dreams and terrify me with visions, 15 so that I prefer strangling and death, rather than this body of mine.

There are dreams from God, from angels and from demons.--88.248.136.75 (talk) 15:06, 19 January 2009 (UTC)

Drugs

Any recreational drug users out there who can confirm my experiences?

I experience Deja Vu often, maybe 2 or 3 times a month (which may or may not have something to do with the amount of cannabis I smoke), usually when I'm not on drugs. But the most intense feeling I ever got was when I was on Speed. I noticed two pharmaceutical drugs mentioned in the article, but no mention of recreational drugs. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 62.252.148.9 (talk) 21:11, 13 August 2008 (UTC)

Re: Misuse

An anon (4.12.163.243) put the following in the article. I removed it and placed it here. --T2X 03:31, Dec 8, 2004 (UTC)

Actually, Keanu Reeves is referring to the reappearance of the same cat with the same action. Lawrence Fishburne was basing his statement on the fact that the imminent danger was the anomaly in the system, with the altering of the building structure, not the déjà vu Keanu Reeves experienced.

This is hard to say. Both explanations are plausible. Reply to David Latapie

It's also very common to say 'déjà vu' even when you are not actually experiencing the feeling of déjà vu, but literally experiencing something for a second time, or witnessing the same thing for a second time, which I took this scene to be portraying. Even if it is ambiguous something could be said elsewhere on the page to reference this use of déjà vu in what I guess would be something like a simile.Number36 23:09, 10 December 2006 (UTC)

Vision and déjà vu

It seems that déjà vu has nothing to do with vision. A déjà entendu or déjà senti (already heard or already smelt, respectively) would still be called déjà vu. This should be explicitely clarifiried, IMHO. —Reply to David Latapie 11:42, 14 October 2005 (UTC)

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Deja Vu - life as a movie that's already been seen

As "some believe" that Deja Vu is a glimp of our true, normal state of mind, when we see the future, as well as we remember the past.

It is when you walk down the street and suddenly, for a split second, fall into a very interesting, sleepy, state of mind - you know that it has already happened. You "remember" that once you go around the corner, you would see that and that. You go around the corner and see it.

If we look at it with a more open mind... let's try remembering what this Deja Vu feels, or better how time feels during Deja Vu.

While in the state of Deja Vu, time feels like there are no "past", "now" or "future", but only one long... time.

If we try remembering ourselves at the age of 2 or 3, I believe we felt time different then we do now. It felt more like it does in the state of Deja Vu, rather then normal "past", "now" and "future", didn't it?

Now the most interesting part- Some people believe that there is such thing as "intuitive thinking", it is when you "remember" what will happen within an hour, as good as what has happened an hour ago.

That everybody is born with that kind of thinking, only when not used, it perishes at the age of 3 - 4. The part of brain responsible for it falls asleep.

Yet from time to time it awakens and asks if anybody needs it - this is what we call Deja Vu.

These are pieces of your Divine possibilities. This is your fading memory of paradise, from which you dropped into this life. It is when you, in a life-long agony, for split seconds come to the senses and see the world in reality.

Understood the hint? Had just hinted you where is and how to get your pity billion, if you consider, that all happiness lies in money.

Now, not by accident, has spilled the beans about the main thing - about where to find answers to all your "why?", "what to do when...?", "how to be at...", "how to act at...". Continue yourself."

Now seriously, if one man once can get, maybe by accident, into a state of mind where he "remembers" the future, it means that he can do it again, maybe even on purpose. And if one can do it, another also can do it. And if one can "see" 2 minutes into the future, why couldn't he "see" 5 or 10 minutes? Or, let's say, an hour, day or month? Imagine what would be your possibilities then?

from ( in Russian ) http://www.universalinternetlibrary.ru/book/norbekov4/ogl.shtml and http://www.norbekov.ru

and some pieces from http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/14/science/14deja.html?ex=1252900800&en=331d6db9dff26282&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland

...

"The way the coffee cups were lined up on the table," said Gretchen Purcell, 24, a business consultant in the Washington area who felt this so strongly during a conference-call meeting last month that it made her laugh out loud. "The whole scene was so familiar I thought I knew what people were going to say before they said it. It was like I was in a movie I'd already seen."

...

"In one entry, Mr. Naik writes of attending a birthday party for a friend at a restaurant: "Everything, the conversation, the position of people, position of tables, plates were extraordinarily in place. Most remarkable of all events. Very intense. Lasted for a long time. Which is odd - usually intensity and time are reciprocal. I could predict every single future event in this time period to utmost precision. Felt extraordinarily weird after this one. I sat there for the next minute to come back to reality." "

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I started cleaning some of that up and gave up. I thinkt here might be some useful information in there -- might be better to pull out the good bits rather than delete it outright... Scix 23:09, 12 December 2005 (UTC)

Deleted outright. Feel free to add back the good bits. — Ambush Commander^(Talk) 01:51, 13 December 2005 (UTC)

Just a quick question

I have experienced déjà vu, however in a certain occurrence, not only did I fell I recalled the surrounding environment but I also recalled the feeling of déjà vu and my reaction to it (my immediate thought was "this has happened many times before". It felt similar to looking into a mirror facing another mirror parallel to it.

Can anyone offer an explanation or at least a name for what I experienced? Alan Frize 18:40, 19 December 2005 (UTC)

Well, depending on your theory of what déjà vu is, your experience falls right smack-dab in the middle of "normal" déjà vu. I have also had this experience. It's weird. But if one takes déjà vu to be a sort of glitch in the memory storage "software," where things put into the "right-now" short-term memory folder are also accessed by the "has this happened before?" script (to heavily draw on a computer analogy of brain function), as soon as the recognition of déjà vu happenes, it also goes into the feedback loop.

If we were really computers, we'd need to reboot at this point. Fortunately, there's some control in place that keeps the phenomenon from occuring for more than a few seconds at a time (I think something like 20 seconds is my own record). I'm actually fairly interested in what stops déjà vu from happening once it's started. Scix 19:29, 19 December 2005 (UTC)

````I also experience frequent deja vecu, with one funny abnormality to boot-I know exactly when I dream it. I dream them often. Just yesterday, my girlfriend cheated on me and the exact place and surroundings I was in I had dreamt almost five months earlier. This happens to me often. I really feel like I need to be seeking a clinical psychologist, because I can start writing this down and mess their stuff up. I often dream of seemingly insignificant events and later those times coincide with major life events. I really feel a duty to the scientific community to provide empirical evidence that this does happen. The characters often include complete strangers that I have never seen in my life, but in the dreams they are themselves-how could I dream someone's actions appropriately when I have no knowledge of them? Their body language and manner of speech? Please contact me if you wish````TheHappyHeathen

Quick answer to a quick question

>> But if one takes déjà vu to be a sort of glitch in the memory storage...

But if it would be a glitch, then how comes some people report seeing glimps of the future?

>> Can anyone offer an explanation or at least a name for what I experienced?

Yes. If we take the above theorie ( Deja Vu - life as a movie that's already been seen ), that Deja Vu is seeing glimps of the future, then it is quite normal. For example, you have a Deja Vu and then, after it ( in the future ) , you think "Hay! I had a Deja Vu!". Now, during the Deja Vu you "see" your immediate future in which you will think "Hay! I had a Deja Vu!". So you're getting a Deja Vu of remambering this Deja Vu.

Good Luck!

>>> But if one takes déjà vu to be a sort of glitch in the memory storage...

>> But if it would be a glitch, then how comes some people report seeing glimps of the future?

> If (and its a big "if") people who report seeing the future actually do see the future, then that's not deja vu, now is it? Unrelated phenomenon. Scix 19:20, 21 December 2005 (UTC)

I assume there could be many ways of seeing the future, but with this theorie Deja Vu is falling for split seconds into an intuitive state of mind in which you do "remamber" the future ( this is what gives you a feeling of "this has already happened" ), at least a few seconds or minutes into the future. See above quotes.

If I am seeing into the future, my experience will be of seeing the future. THEN I will have the experience of remembering having seen the moment before. But that's not generally how it happens: with deja vu, we only get the second part. Scix 20:45, 21 December 2005 (UTC)

I believe that some people do not have this glimps at all, other might have them more or less or in some different way. As well as some might have interpritated what they have seen differently. As it was asked in the "quick question" above, why does one get Deja Vu of a Deja Vu, it could be because one is remambering himself in the future remambering his Deja Vu of remambering himself in the future... I have also heard of people having tripple Deja Vu, so maybe the amount of Daje Vu Deja Vus is limited by the time one is in that state of mind? But I'm note sure about this one. The Russian book ( link above, most interesting chapter http://www.universalinternetlibrary.ru/book/norbekov4/3.shtml#22 ) kinda gives an insight into this, yet I don't know how readable it would be with a auto-translator...

Merge proposition

The entries for jamais vu and presque vu are both stubs. As these phenomena are related to déjà vu, might it be worth merging them with this article?

On a related note, is l'esprit des escaliers really worthy of inclusion as a related article? Is the feeling of "that's what I should have said" a psychological phenomenon like déjà vu? --Urbane legend 11:58, 9 January 2006 (UTC)

I agree with merging both of those stubs into this article and to removing 'l'esprit des escaliers' from the related articles. I will do both. uriah923^(talk) 21:18, 18 January 2006 (UTC)

Actually, I redirected the two articles here instead of deleting them. If that was a bad move, feel free to wipe them out. uriah923^(talk) 21:21, 18 January 2006 (UTC)

I don't agree, personally. Especially as neither item is really mentioned here in the least bit. Instead of merging, we should cross-link them all and try to beef up the other two articles. 24.34.23.216 01:04, 2 October 2006 (UTC)

HOW DO YOU EXPLAIN DEJA VU?

I MEAN DEJA VU IN ALL SENSE OF THE WORD...

my mom said that someone once told her that it was something like this: we have two hemispheres in our head, left brain and right brain. we are perceiving a situation at any given time...then one of the hemispheres delays its perception by mere seconds (or maybe more?) and it is when we feel as if we already lived through a certain moment...and we did, we just lived through it like, 10 seconds ago.

My brother also said that some people (who believe in reincarnation) believe that when you get deja vu it is because you are doing well in your new life...or that you did well in your past life. Something like that... User:Yayforblank 01:30, 29 January 2006 (UTC)

• The article discusses your first paragraph already, and it's the explanation that makes the most sense... as compared with off-the-wall and unverifiable hocus-pocus like precognitive dreams and reincarnation. Wahkeenah 01:57, 29 January 2006 (UTC)

I had this feeling a couple of times

I can say it is not a good feelig to see something that you think that you have seen before. It is such a strange thing but it is a kinda interesting experience. P.S. Does anoyne else have this feeling? User:Drilon 23:49, 30 January 2006 Drilon (UTC)

• It's not anoyne else, it's just oyu. >:) Wahkeenah 00:34, 31 January 2006 (UTC)

AHH

I had a crazy deja vu exactly like Alan's, however it lasted FOR A FREAKING HOUR. Just like to say, as thats the longest one I've ever heard of, and it freaked me out for the longest time.

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AHH, when you had this hour long Deja Vu, did you just feel that evrything that is going on around you has already happened - for example, someone comes into the room and you think "hay, this has already happened sometime!" - or did you also feel what is about to happen - like you think "hay, I remamber someone will/had walked into the room right now!" and so it happens ? --81.198.36.229 19:47, 9 February 2006 (UTC)

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i had a Déjà visité. it was the freakyest thing i have ever seen. this is what happened... i had a dream and i was in this warehouse walking around and i had kno idea where i was and i dont kno how i got there or y i was there. this dream was vary vivd and i remeabered it... then about three months after the dream i was bike rideing with my friend. we were on a trail that was about 20 mi away from my house and... i past the same warehous that was in my dream! i just put on my brakes and stoped. i stared at the warehouse for about 5 min with out saying a word... then my friend said "whats wrong with you" and then i explained to him about the dream and stuff... omg it was so weird this happened about 6 months ago

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This is the OP posting again. I've had two extreme cases of deja vu with paranoia. Both times the sensation lasted between 1-2 hours, slowly fading over time. The experience is like knowing sonething was going to happen, only after it happened. As things happen, you remember them happening before, then you remember remembering, and so on. It was a very scary experience, because it felt like I was trapped in an eternity of repeating events. The first time, I was sober and at school; the second, I had just smoked some weed (which did not help with the paranoia!). I'm 19 and the incidents were approximately 2 years apart. I think I remember having deja vu sensations as a child as well, only not lasting nearly as long. Just a few days ago, I was really stressed and It actually felt like I was on the verge of having another deja vu and paranoia attack; everything felt really dreamy and I had to struggle to keep my mind from falling into that horrible state. I guess these are just seizures without the convulsing, although I've never had any other symptoms of epilepsy before. Has anyone else had deja vu last this long?

Is this Deja Vu?

I'm not sure if it's Deja Vu or not but my expereince seems to be a little different. I would dream of a specific scene and anywhere from weeks to months later it would happen in reality. It wasn't just a mundane detail. I would see a surrounding area that was totally unfamiliar to me in the dream and some time later, when I finally came to that place I would recall the dream. I've tried to explain it to friends but most of them shrug it off. Sometimes when I wake up after having a dream, I have a good indication as to whether or not it might come to pass, usually, that's not the case though. I do recall, after one fairly vivid dream, I described what happened to my roommates at the time. A few months later it happened, right down to the words people spoke. Each time, the scene only lasts for a minute or so. I'm typically quite skeptical about this kind of thing but sometimes it creeps me out. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Polurbear (talk • contribs) .

I suppose it could be. If it makes you feel any better, you probably don't remember the times when your dreams didn't come true (it would be very strange if we never had dreams that came true). — Ambush Commander^(Talk) 23:15, 18 February 2006 (UTC)

That is exactly the same type I experience. I have a dream, then forget about it for a while. Then, one day, the exact scene occurs, and I can recall exactly what everybody is about to say. It has happened to me three times that I can remember. --kenb215 18:51, 2 March 2006 (UTC)

Wow, that happens to me every few weeks, where I recall- or perhaps-precall something that someone says or does! Le Anh-Huy 03:58, 8 July 2006 (UTC)

Deja vu - an alternate explanation

"deja vu was just a momentary infinitesimal lag in the operation of two coactive sensory nerve centers that commonly function simultaneously". Joseph Heller - Catch 22 -- Blogan 13:51, 22 February 2006 (UTC)

I am shocked and horrified that this is the only Catch-22 reference around here. I must find my copy and rectify this gross oversight immediately! --Sam Pointon 03:19, 2 March 2006 (UTC)

I believe someone said something similar in Babylon 5 (that's about 5 million geek points for me) --Kick the cat 21:26, 6 November 2006 (UTC)

---I've had some really strange thing which, as far as i have seen, nobody else here has experienced, this is it: i vividly remember a dream i once had when i was in kindergarden school (tyhe dream occured while i was sleeping in my house, obviously), i dreamed that i was in the kindergarden and there where some strange creatures in the roof, like spiky armadillos or something, me, and every other classmate were creeped out about the creatures, so me and some other classmate, went to a little forest that was, and still is, near the school, grabed a wood stick and kinda pinched them or something and we got rid of them. I know that i knew i had dreamed this the very next morning, because i also remember telling all my classmates about the dream that day. Anyway, what'a really creepy is that like two or one year after that, i, also vividly, remember having the exact same dream, until the point of when we kill them, so, it was like, i dreamed the same awe, and scare, etc, but, i remember that in my dream i said: Oh, i know what that is, and i went to the forest, grabed a wood stick and got rid of them in the exact seme way!!!! Now, this is really creepy, because it's not deja vu, or jaimes vu, or whatever, nor other -vu, it's the capacity to somehow remember conciouslly and, also, subconciouslly my dreams and being able to, also, subcouncioslly act, or modify any repeted dreams!!!! Another thing, but i dont find it quite creepy as this other one i just wrote, is that also, as a child, i had a lot of "nightmares" (but i prefer the term dream) that i was in some neighborhood i knew, and being chased by dinosaurs, but, they peculiar thing is that i, like was aware of everything of what was happenning and i made my own choises of where to hide or run, etc, and i had my own domain of pinching myself, or however you say it, during the dream and waking up, i remember i did this like 3 times, for example, when i was about to get eaten, or just when i was "bored" of the dream, it kinda thought: Nah, let's wake up, and i did!! Now, i know there are two possibilities, one is that i had, as it's the impression, that i had absolute and irrefutable control over myself in the dream (just only these ones, because i cant recall feeling this with any other dream), or that it was such a bad dream that it made me "think that i had control over my actions" when it only was an ilusion that made me think i was making the decisions. This is quite a mess, i know, but if someone would like to e-mal me their opinions, theories, etc, to me, this is my e-mail: raktek@hotmail.com Looking forward to your thoughts about the subject!!! —Preceding unsigned comment added by Gaol-Gaia (talk • contribs) 03:52, 14 March 2008 (UTC)

I have experienced all of the phenomena enlisted in the article except the one in which you cant recognize a familiar setting and none of my deja vus has lasted very long. I have also experienced the dream thing. But it so happens that my maternal grandma had schizophrenia and now severe loss of memory too. So i am not very comfirtable with these feelings and a little worried. I mean as a kid its okay, but as you grow up past 20, the frequecy should go down. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 210.212.8.62 (talk) 04:50, 13 April 2008 (UTC)

Paramnesia

Why does Paramnesisa redirect to this page? Paramnesia is "a disorder of memory in which dreams or fantasies are confused with reality" (Dictionary.com). This seems entirely different from Deja Vu and should probably warrent its own page, unless I am mistaken about the definition. --72.56.15.118 06:21, 27 March 2006 (UTC)

Frequent Deja vu

I just want to know if there's any significance as to why I have been having deja vu a lot more lately. I have deja vu at least 3 times a week, and as much as 2-3 times a day. Even some of my friends have been experiencing it more often as well. What is, or could be going on?

I had once 100 DEJA VUS in a year or less.Short 1-9 second ones, but 100!Sorry if I shouldn't post here.

The same sort of thing happens to me i get it like once a day and its not always like 1 second or 2 seconds the longest ive had is like 15 seconds and i know cuase i was checking my watch when it happened. I think its just like some people get deja vu either like a little or a ton. and reading down a little someone says matching hand movments and stuff seams to increase dejavu which i think makes sence for me if typing counts.

you are tired. get some sleep. Nitro4ce 06:18, 18 July 2007 (UTC)

Deja Vu - This is not seeing into the future, past lives or any of the other supernatural theories that have been presented. It is a very simple concept, one part of the brain simply interprets the current surroundings and actions faster than the rest of the brain, causing the brain to process everything twice. By the time you recognise that you've dealt with that situation before, the experience is almost finished, causing temporary confusion adding to the overall effects of Deja Vu. This is also why, in most cases, Deja Vu only lasts for brief periods of time and can give the impression that you know what's coming next.

Hemispheres crossing over.

It was suggested to me by my wife who was reading New Scientist that, if it is true that deja vu is communication between the "now" part of your brain and the "memory" area, creating the impression that what you are seeing is also in your memory, even though in reality its just crossed wires. I know that this is already discussed in the article, but she suggested that coordination exercises (designed to increase communication between both halves of the brain, e.g. copying the movements of your right hand with your left) would presumably increase the frequency of one's deja vu experiences?

I have been playing the bass guitar for a number of years, and that involves matching the timing of movements of one hand with those of the other, and I have deja vu ALOT. So what she says makes sense?

--SGGH 11:35, 20 June 2006 (UTC)

• How do you explain the experience where someone experiences complete conscious deja vu in which the person remembers all sensations of a particular episode in time, but from a previous dream they can recall. I have experienced this before, one instance in particular that I had and made a subsequent effort to remember BOTH the instance of Deja Vu and the previous dream in which the experience caused me to recall from. I remember thinking about the dream months before the Deja Vu experience occurred. I dreamed about a place that I hand't seen or experienced before and then had a sensation of Deja Vu when the exact parameters of my cosciousness or feeling matched that in the dream. I think Deja Vu experiences like these are the most difficult to explain. 69.157.102.52 07:14, 26 September 2006 (UTC)

Deja Vu

I like totally believe in Deja vu. It is so awesome. I dream about something and it comes true. Not all the time but most of the time. Like I dreamed that my friend would come home from the army and he really did. I was so excited.

You are NOT seeing into the future. You have to understand that the impression that you have dreamt something before is solely created by your brain. It is not anything paranormal nor does it involve "powers". 80.38.64.168 11:08, 25 June 2007 (UTC)

I believe in it too. I have it all the time I als have dreams that come true as well 62.56.52.246 (talk) 13:42, 5 April 2008 (UTC)

"Concentrator"

Re the phrase "expanded upon an essay he wrote while an undergraduate French concentrator at the University of Chicago." That inter-article intra-wikipedia link (I don't know the word) is blatantly not right as it refers to telecommunication circuits, not to something one might be at the University of wherever. However, I've no idea where it should point, sorry. --Kick the cat 21:22, 6 November 2006 (UTC)

Changing Deja Vu

Backround to the story: I was sitting around talking with my friends.

One time when I was experiencing deja vu I saw a certain event. Yhen I saw(and heard) what my friend was going to say. Then after he was done talking I answered. Right once I saw this "episode of deja vu". It started to happen but I barged in while my friend was talking changing what I had just seen.

So, what happened there? did my mind just anticipate what would happen and show it to me as deja vu? or is there something else(not like paranormal or crap like that, but in my mind)?

[This also kind of disavows the idea of hemisphere's lapsing]

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The same thing occurs to me as well. I'm not sure wheter it's deja vu or not, but I think it's the same feeling. There are times when I experience feelings, sounds or else, and it triggers this "Oh, it's a deja vu", cause it feels that i had already felt that way in the same moment before. And then comes the weird stuff. As I percieve deja vu, the feeling itself triggers an another deja vu to me, and this goes for several more times (e.g.: -Deja vu! -Another one! -And another!). Beside this I also experience the "this also could have happened" feeling. There are times when I know that the thing I will or have experienced was already experienced in a long time ago (about a month maybe). And it's weird because I usually see a set of realistic events in near future, but it never actually happens. How can you explain this? That someone sees a segment of a possible future and because he sees it he screws it because the way he approaches the future makes it impossible to occur. I've been thinking about this and i wouldn't say that this is a lag in the mind, or even if it is a memory of a long lost dream that had that outcome, how can someone know of things, that were not known (Once I remembered a friend, who I had only met recently).

Inappropriate tone transclusion

This page has been marked as having an informal tone, but this does not seem to be justified. Consider removing the transclusion.

I guess its because this talk page is mainly people trying to find out about what happened to themself rather than discussing the artical, however I find it appropriate for this type of topic...

Deja Vu definition

In the first paragraph this articles states Deja vu is french for "already happened" I am only in high school french, but I am fairly sure that it actually means "already seen" I would change this but I am not sure of my french enough to be positive. I would appreciate if someone fluent in French checked this out.

Inapproriate Sources

"However there is much anecdotal evidence that déjà vu is at least sometimes associated with genuine precognition, which the memory anomaly theory does not account for[1]." The source that this passage references sounds like it's made by someone who is sore about wikipedia not giving support for their case. They obviously created this 'source' so that their additions would look legitimate, even though they are clearly reactionary, blog-style arguments written by the very person who edited this article to include it (or at least someone who is quite friendly to the writer of the source). This is, of course, against Wikipedia policy.128.54.152.174 07:42, 21 November 2006 (UTC)

Yellow Light

In the article you mention that 70% of the population report having experienced "Deja vu" and you go on to discuss "Links with disorders". In an article relating to Hypnic jerks (followed from the link) apparently 70% of the population report this experience. This seems like a correlation worth investigating further. In addition as a lay person interested in Deja Vu, I met someone who insisted that he associated Deja vu with the "Yellow Light" you could see when you have your eyes closed and are falling asleep. Of course this is the same time one would experience a Hypnic jerk! I would be interested if anyone has any comments, theories or expansions on the above very none scientific ideas!

Reincarnation should be removed from "Scientific research"

This subheading obviously isn't scientific in any way. It is an explanation -- an unscientific one. Thus it should be placed under a different heading. We should keep the science section free of bullshit and include facts, not fiction.

• I completely agree, reincarnation is total nonsense and should be removed from the scientific research section. It might have a place somewhere else in the article but it is most definitely not there. 24.150.159.75 04:02, 29 January 2007 (UTC)
• Put it under a "Theories" section instead. As for the insults posted here against reincarnation, one can say that all religous beliefs are false, and say the same. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.119.63.83 (talk) 05:29, 3 July 2008 (UTC)

Hypnagogic jerk

In the section "Links with disorders" we have the following statement:

As most people suffer a mild (i.e. non-pathological) epileptic episode regularly (e.g. the sudden "jolt", a hypnagogic jerk, that frequently occurs just prior to falling asleep), it is conjectured that a similar (mild) neurological aberration occurs in the experience of déjà vu, resulting in an erroneous sensation of memory.

This needs some fixes. You can't say "most people" without reference. The hypnagogic jerk page makes no reference to epilepsy as a cause of the jerking. "It is conjectured" by whom? This also needs a reference too. If this is not forth coming I'll remove this sentence, since at the moment that section contains a lot of unreferenced statements. OoberMick 13:09, 8 December 2006 (UTC)

Regarding the 2006 movie "Deja vu" mentioned in the article

The movie is indeed called "Deja vu", however the movie is about time travel and not really about the deja vu sensation. I think someone should fix that.

Emile Boirac

Boirac might have coined this phrase in a letter to the editor of Review Philosophique, 1, p. 430-431 in 1876. It was not in his much later L'Avenir Des Sciences Psychiques. Further, this is debatable. See: The Deja Vu Experience: Essays in Cognitive Psychology by Robert Brown. He cites many other possibilities including A. L. Wigan's The Duality of the Mind (1844), which is the earliest.

?

I thought that some researchers had said that déjà vu was like you had seen the thing before but it was actually just milliseconds before. I'll explain: you walk in a room and see a lamp. It registers but not consiously, so then when it actually registers you think that you have seen it before. I'm just curoius I will do a google search on it or somthing. DPM 00:31, 22 February 2007 (UTC)

The Matrix

In "popular references", there is a reference to The Matrix film. I think it should be changed, because Neo sees the cat twice, it is not an illusion, therefore it is not a deja vu phenomena. He thinks it is a deja vu because he cant believe what he is seeing, but yes, the system is actually failing. It is true that when the system fails it is called "deja vu", but it is not a deja vu phenomena, it is just called that way. Deja vu is an alteration in the perception, but here it is not the perception what is changing anormally, it is the reality itself (a virtual reality of course). Nitro4ce 22:54, 29 March 2007 (UTC)

I think the authors of the Matrix offers an alternative explanation of deja vu - a glitch in the programming of the Matrix. RickardV 06:41, 12 April 2007 (UTC)

It's hard to show deja vu on film because it's an unexplanable phenomenon, but that's how the directors chose it represent it. I agree though it is the feeling of seeing something twice not seeing it repeat itself. Fleeedermaus

The other french words

Excellent article but could someone put in how one pronansiuate the other french words. Thanks! RickardV 06:41, 12 April 2007 (UTC)

isso eh a mentira

About the section on deja vu and other disorders

I remember hearing that deja vu can be caused by ECT (electro-convulsive therapy), where a seizure is caused on purpose as treatment for a variety of disorders. ECT can also affect the memory so the 'crossed wires' theory about deja vu makes a kind of sense. Gretchen1979 03:06, 26 April 2007 (UTC)gretchen1979

Boto fé Seu marginal

Non-scientific Explanations

This section of the article doesn't explain anything. It even creates more questions. I suggest it to be changed to 'non-scientific claims'.--80.56.36.253 08:37, 25 May 2007 (UTC)

In what sense is Parapsychology a "Non-scientific" Explanation? While one might argue that the field has a fundamental problem in that it is no further forward than it was 100 years ago (Q: "Do psychic powers exist? A: We simply don't know."), it is certainly a field of study regarded fairly widely as scientific and taught at university level including the availability of PhD programs. On the other hand, I am not aware of any parapsychologists who are of the opinion that deja vu has a paranormal explanation, though some may exist. Richard E 23:25, 19 July 2007 (UTC)

Another theory

One thing I have often wondered about deja vu is if it is simply our lives paths crossing. Maybe it's just the universe's way of saying, regardless of which path you chose before, you would still be standing in this bedroom folding laundry (or doing what ever you're doing) and with that maybe the paths just didn't line up correctly so you see or sense what's about to happen. I thought I heard that as an explaination before so I was kind of surprised that it wasn't in the definitions with the psychic stuff. The only definition I have a slight issue with is the "glitch in the memory", only becuase I have experienced deja vu with other people present and have seen what they were going to say or do next. As creepy as it is, I enjoy taking advantage of those few seconds and watching what I thought was going to happen unfold.Cdot1978 00:24, 30 May 2007 (UTC)

• I've included a piece that I titled "Parallel Universes" (suitable title or too 'out there'?) in the non-scientific section - what you're saying seems to relate to what I included about all branches (or as you say, life paths) leading to one possibility. Northeasternbeast 17:16, 28 August 2007 (UTC)

Efficiency Theory

---

This was an idea I had and tried to post under Deja Vu a while ago, but was deleted because I'm not published. Now I get to come on here and see that there is a whole page of stuff similiar to mine. Awesome. (Can you sense the sarcasm, cause I'm piling it on pretty thick.)

Based on the idea of Multiverse, Efficiency Theory explains Deja Vu as an phenomenon created by two timelines with such subtle differences, that instead of having them coexist separately, they interconnect for a small amount of time and become one. The lines break apart when a choice has been made to differentiate the two realities. The feeling of Deja Vu would be explained as our subconscious recognizing that this is happening. However, by the time the conscious mind realizes what has happened, the timelines have usually broken apart, leaving both realities (people, groups, etc.) with the sense that they had just done something twice, before, etc. (Deitering, 2007) CADsCreativity (talk) 18:00, 30 March 2008 (UTC)

Deja Reve

I think, Deja Reve should be mentioned in few lines in this article. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Virash (talk • contribs) 19:00, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

The Truth

When one calculates what excactly will happen next without thinking about it, they will get the feeling that it's happened before, though it's only happened in their mind moments prior.

Or, maybe the mind sees and experiences what is currently happening and instead of sending the information to be recorded in the short term memory, it plays it as if coming from the short term memory. The lapse is the effective ideology of Deja vu. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 89.100.38.226 (talk) 02:42, 19 December 2007 (UTC)

The computer analogy

The suggestion that the neural delay theory is strengthened by what occurs in computers is, frankly, nonsense, and is so on several levels. First, there is no way of determining if altered input sequence results in a computational deja vu, whatever that might be. Second, altered input sequence does not necessarily, or even commonly lead to a race condition. The race condition occurs where two processes are triggered to use a single resource simultaneously, when access should be sequential. Since in single processor systems there is no real simultaneity possible, which actually obtains access first is indeterminate. The outcome may be may or may not be significant, but it has little bearing on deja vu. I suggest that the relevant portion of the text be deleted. Xarqi (talk) 04:25, 22 November 2007 (UTC)

I agree with you, the racing condition only occurs when the computer has one processor, and the reason is because it cannot make multiple calculations at a single time, but only one. The brain has billions of neruons which take care of information being sent to the brain, so what are the chances of all of them delaying? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.49.210.155 (talk) 01:01, 7 December 2007 (UTC)

I too agree that it's nonsense, and I'm removing it. However, the middle comment above is also nonsense. Race conditions are actually _more_ common on multi-processor systems. "Race condition" just means that a system is non-deterministic because it is sensitive to the timing of processes. Which process "wins the race" partially determines the results, usually to detrimental effect. Crag (talk) 00:19, 29 January 2008 (UTC)

Issue with tense

In the late 20th and early 21st Centuries, it was widely believed that déjà vu could be caused by the mis-timing of neuronal firing. This timing error was thought to lead the brain to believe that it was encountering a stimulus for the second time, when in fact, it was simply re-experiencing the same event from a slightly delayed source.

Given that this paragraph is about the early 21st Century, I feel it is confusing for it to be written in the past tense. It suggests that this is a historical opinion no longer held. Is this accurate, or should it be changed to the present tense?--wintermute (talk) 14:52, 5 December 2007 (UTC)

Also, why is this page part of the Paranormal project? Is there a similar tag on squeaky floorboards, because some people interpret them as ghosts? There's nothing any more "paranormal" about déjà vu than about any other phenomenon of memory.--wintermute (talk) 14:52, 5 December 2007 (UTC)

Issue with sentence structure

Under Scientific Research, the quote, "If one, for instance, experience déjà vu of someone slapping the fingers on his/her left hand, then the déjà vu feeling is certainly not due to his/her right hand to be late on the left one," doesn't make very much sense. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Brastein (talk • contribs) 00:50, 2 February 2008 (UTC)

Cure or Reason having Deja Vu?

Could you please list some Cures and/or reasons for Deja Vu? (Sorry if I didn't see any lists about it) Please Reply--71.123.249.41 (talk) 01:41, 27 February 2008 (UTC)Pocket

>I've just skimmed throught the page here and come up with a theory for this phenomona, for I too have experienced deja vu but believe there to be scientific reasoning behind it rather than paranormal. Is it not possible that, during a momentary state of heightened intuitiveness, a person may pre-empt a senario or incident subconciously, only to experience such an incident conciously and interpret it as being deja vu? Does that even make sense to anyone other than myself? If someone has already mentioned such a theory I apologise. I also apologise if I am merely talking rubbish! --[Amernee] —Preceding unsigned comment added by Amernee (talk • contribs) 09:59, 12 March 2008 (UTC)

No No, I understand you . I hate deja vu! It's weird and it makes everything boring! You make perfect sense, Seriously. --71.170.205.72 (talk) 04:51, 31 July 2008 (UTC)Pocket

How I Stopped it! I used to experience daja vu regularly as a child and it really freaked me out. I was sure that what I experienced was something I had dreamed before. I could recall how long ago i had dreamed it and when i woke up in the morning i knew i had had a daja vu dream that night but I would immediately forget what I had dreamed. Eventually I started trying to mess with the dreams while i was having them and I was able to successfully control what I was doing. This really freaked me out when I saw it happening in real life, so I told my dad about it (I was about 10 years old at the time) and he told me that he had the same thing happen to him as a child and how to stop it. He told me about all my other family members who got it too and this made me feel much better. He made sure that I was sure I wanted to stop it before he told me how to. (This is a big decision sometimes I wish I could get mine back) He told me to envision a solid thick brick wall that nothing could break through or claim over at night right before I fell asleep. Of course for the first 30 minutes or so i was seeing stuff climbing over the wall or around it but when I finally convinced myself that nothing could pass through or around it I fell asleep. I only had the daja vu experience once since then and im 20 now. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 209.183.34.49 (talk) 05:36, 4 February 2009 (UTC)

Connected Deja Vu?

I would like to add an interesting experience I had with Deja Vu. You see, there was this one time when I was playing videogames with my cousins, suddenly i had Deja Vu. The strange thing is that one of my cousins had it too in the exact same moment. We both recognized everything that was happening and that was going to happen, for example, we both "remembered" having seen the same people using the exact same clothes, doing the exact same thing while playing videogames. After this I believe that Deja Vu is something that should be considered "paranormal" because as of today I haven't found a single explanation to what happened that day. If someone can explain to me what happened, I'll gladly hear them. —Preceding unsigned comment added by GiovA Cross (talk • contribs) 13:39, 24 March 2008 (UTC)

Co-Incidence? Weed? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 66.188.15.91 (talk) 22:39, 5 October 2008 (UTC)

An explaining of how Deja Vu happens ?

My theory is, when the short term memory is busy, by thinking about different problems at the same time ( your mother is on the phone, you need to keep an eye at the burger you're heating up on the microwave and then go back to that damn cgi illustration+page setup that should be finished since tuesday. ) so, instead of using the short term/live memory that is squatted by all these priority thoughts; the brain starts using free memory in the long-term memory area for all the "background stuff" (vision, sound, feelings of the moment) the same way a computer would use disk cache instead of RAM when the RAM is too busy.

this is why the "now" looks like an event lived, or dreamed years ago.

It just happened to me twice this week,while working. i guess i need holidays, or a good defrag. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 88.162.93.107 (talk) 20:20, 10 April 2008 (UTC)

Deja reve et vecu?

Out of curiosity: I experience deja vu - or rather, vecu - (I have no accents ready to hand) reasonably often, but normally as follows: I remember, out of the blue, a dream and 'remember' remembering it in the place and situation in which I find myself. This isn't deja reve per se, as the dream itself is unrelated to the deja vecu. Does anyone better informed have any information on this, by any chance? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Mordhynas (talk • contribs) 21:27, 3 July 2008 (UTC)

Rush of adrenaline?

Whenever I have a true deja vu I nearly always feel this exhilaration, what I best can describe as a rush of adrenaline, almost the same as the feeling you get after just avoiding a slip and fall on ice, or loose pebbles, just not as uncomfortable. Has anyone else ever felt this, or even better, read about it? If such a thing is common in a déjà vu experience, it would make a valuable addition to the article, regarding any actual physical response ones body would have. --Ifrit (talk) 23:11, 19 July 2008 (UTC)

IM I pcychick???

IM AN ORDINARY TEENAGER AND THE FACT TAT I HAVE FREQUENT DEJAVOUS IS WIERD???? I DNT UNDRSTAND...IS IT TAT IM SIKICK??? DU I HAVE SUM EXTRAORDINARY SUPERNATURAL POWERS???? I HAVE BEEN EXPERIENCING DEJAVUS FOR A LONG TIME.. AND SUM R REALLYYY SCARY...

No.

WHY DO I GET THIS??????

Has anyone expreienced it b4? I sleep for some time and my whole body goes numb. I can hear and see what happens in the outside world. I can't move from that position unitll I get a phone call or some one rings my door bell or any thing of that sort. Some times this is assosicated with a dream, nightmare ofcourse, but still can hear the outside world. But can't move a bit. I Get so tied up, I can't even shout. even if i shout no one hears. This is scaring me. This has happened to me thrice already. What do u think I should do? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 122.167.104.118 (talk) 08:45, 11 August 2008 (UTC)

Am I the sea, or the monster of the deep, that you put me under guard? When I think my bed will comfort me and my couch will ease my complaint, even then you frighten me with dreams and terrify me with visions, so that I prefer strangling and death, rather than this body of mine. I despise my life; I would not live for ever. Let me alone; my days have no meaning.- Job 7:12-16.

Job also did not know that the frightening visions and dreams was be made by any demons or direct by Satan. Job supposed he was God, but Job was be mistaken. Your question: "What do u think I should do?" Man must keep away from all type spiritism and man must pray to God with his name (Jehovah).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:D%C3%A9j%C3%A0_vu#Deja_Vu_is_demonic

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Afterlife#Why_believe_many_people_an_afterlife.3F

--88.243.77.179 (talk) 16:24, 11 August 2008 (UTC)

   That is a very common one. we even have a local name for it, we call it bangungot. where when your lying on your bed and you seem to be awake. your mind is, but you cant open your eyes or move your limbs. or if you somehow could open your eyes, its just halfway. then the bad thing happens. a terrfyng emotion of fear comes, like your dying because of that intense fear. one common way of handling it is to concentrate on moving your finger. as soon as you can . your free. but i hear people can die because of it.. Another is praying to God while in this scenario. Calling out Christ name, it worked for me... but i dont believe bangungot  be related to dejavu...-from philipinnes. january 12 2009

Read up on Native Americans. I read a book about what u are experiencing a long time ago and I cant remember the name but it explains your experience as early stages of your soul trying to leave your body. Some Native American Indians claim to be able to send there soul away from their body while they are in a sleep trance. (note: Indains also smoked a lot of "peace pipe")

In popular culture

"An example of L'esprit de l'escalier in popular culture can be seen in The Comeback, the 147th episode of the TV sitcom Seinfeld." Is this REALLY necessary? 69.19.214.183 (talk) 00:53, 17 August 2008 (UTC)

promnesia

Why isn't the term "promnesia" mentioned in this article?

"promnesia Look up promnesia at Dictionary.com

   scientific name for the phenomenon of déjà vu, 1903, from Mod.L., from Gk. pro- "before" + -mnesia "memory.""

From http://www.etymonline.com/ 23:52, 18 October 2008 (UTC) —Preceding unsigned comment added by CoverMyIP (talk • contribs)

There are also other sources for this term, so I have added it to the article. Tizio 17:04, 18 November 2008 (UTC)

Inhaling large amounts of gasoline, thinner and other fat-dissolvants often create instant deja vu.

I dont see how to fit it into the article, but if someone wants to try, then shoot. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.231.254.178 (talk) 12:46, 30 January 2009 (UTC)