When walking to a room that seems so familiar to you, most people assume they are just having a weird moment or a trick of memory. You might stop in your tracks, convinced you’ve stood in this exact spot, spoken these exact words or seen these exact surroundings before – even though you know it’s impossible.
However, neuroscience shows this eerie, supernatural feeling is actually a highly coordinated glitch in the brain’s visual and memory centers. Instead of a spooky mystery, deja vu is a rare, backstage pass into our minds’ catalog of everyday life, revealing the fascinating way our brains manage data in real time.
Deja vu is caused by dysfunctional connections between the different parts of the brain that play a role in memory recollection and familiarity. When there’s a miscommunication between the temporal lobe which is responsible for memories and the hippocampus which is responsible for taking in new information, it can create a false memory.
Researchers at Colorado State University used virtual reality to place people in scenes so they can manipulate the environments they themselves are in. As predicted, deja vu was likely to happen in a scene that they were familiar with. This research shows how a contributing factor to deja vu can be spatial resemblance as it causes people to remember certain things which makes them feel like they have been there before.
As people encounter new experiences and memories, these often get wrapped up with each other. According to Cleveland Clinic, people who have a high level of education, travel a lot and usually remember their dreams have a higher chance of experiencing deja vu often as they also have a higher chance of their memories being mixed up with new experiences.
The strange feeling of lived a moment before. (Photo courtesy of Willing Ways)
While an occasional moment of deja vu is completely harmless, it becomes a crucial clue for scientists when it happens constantly. According to Cleveland Clinic, sleep deprivation, stress, migraines and dementia are some health conditions that can cause deja vu to happen often. If you’re not getting enough sleep, it can disrupt the recognition processes in your brain.
In stressful times, your brain can change how you perceive and process information. These health conditions are some of the many ways people may experience deja vu. However, just because you experience moments where you seem to be taken back, it doesn’t necessarily mean that you have a health issue.
Interestingly, your age also plays a massive role in how often you experience this mental glitch. Studies shows that deja vu peaks in teens young adults between the ages of 15 and 25. Neurologists believe this is because young brains are highly active, fast-growing and incredibly sensitive to dopamine – the chemical linked to reward and memory.
As the brain finishes its final stages of development, its hyper-connectivity makes it much more prone to these brief, harmless misfires. So if you feel like you are experiencing it more than the adults around you, your developing brain is actually functioning right on schedule.
Younger, growing brains experience deja vu more often than older ones (Photo courtesy of Magnific)
Ultimately deja vu is a powerful reminder of just how complex the human brain really is. Whether it’s triggered by a virtual reality-style spatial resemblance, a late night of studying or just a random millisecond miscommunication between your temporal lobe and hippocampus, it isn’t something to fear. Instead, the next time you stop in your tracks with that eerie feeling of familiarity, you can appreciate it for what it truly is: a fascinating, behind the scenes look at your mind at work.
