Déjà vu

[area51drone]

Wasn't quite sure if this should be posted here or in one of the Art Bell Topic forum, but I'm curious, as I'm sure others of you are, about the phenomenon.  There certainly have been times I have felt like I've experienced something before.    If you have any good Déjà vu stories, I'd love to hear them.

[paladin1991]

You know, I was just over in the 'Coincidence' thread and I just had this feeling.....

[Kelt]

I remember reading an article explaining how déjà vu is simply the brain tricking you, the result of a chemical release or a synaptic misfire giving you a false sense that you've encountered something previously, rather than any genuine memory of a past experience.

Kind of took the magic out of the whole thing...  fuckin' scientists.

http://youtu.be/OvmvxAcT_Yc

[zeebo]

I used to get pretty intense deja vu quite often.  These days not so much.  For some reason I've grown out of it.  Anyway my experiences are a bit different than the "I've been here before / dreamt this before" description. 

Instead I get a feeling kinda like "Oh yeah, that's exactly how it's supposed to go" for about 10-20 seconds as things are happening around me, like a dropped plate, or a song on the radio, or my friend turning her head to say something, etc. 

It's like somehow I know "the script" for a short time and am reading along with it in real time as it's happening, so it all seems pre-destined ... which is weird since I don't believe in destiny.   

[aldousburbank]

It seems like I've posted this before.

[GeorgieForPresident2216]

For me, it's just a momentary sensation not only that I've done the thing before and can't really place it, but also that the last time I had the same sense of deja vu, and the time before that, and the time before that... kind of like a fractal memory.  That could be normal, I don't know since I've never looked into it.  For awhile I thought that the universe had collapsed and expanded so many times that we're just remembering the last time around.  I also used that to explain ESP and related phenomena.  I know the physics doesn't support that interpretation, though.

[Evil Twin Of Zen]

cool. the brain not only creating memories of something that never happened, but also giving you the feeling of remembering that it did happen.
chronic deja vu would be considered an illness. we could study it. see how and why it happens. then and only then will we know my fellow bgabbers..... if fish have deja vu. which would be messed up if they did.... 

[The General]

ABBA is a palindrome.
THERE ARE NO COINCIDENCES.

[Evil Twin Of Zen]

ABBA is a palindrome.
THERE ARE NO COINCIDENCES.

down the hall and take the third left. you'll be ok. really, don't worry. 

[GeorgieForPresident2216]

ABBA is a palindrome.
THERE ARE NO COINCIDENCES.

.cixelsyd m'I esuaceb doog s'tahT

[zeebo]

...For awhile I thought that the universe had collapsed and expanded so many times that we're just remembering the last time around....

My theory's just as weird.  I wonder if maybe I've skipped ahead in time, but only like a second or two, so that the things happening around me actually happened a brief second ago so that's why I have a kind of recognition of them.

What if time was like a river, and had little crosscurrents and such, so that most the time you're just hurtling along down the center, but once in awhile you get, for a few seconds, thrust forward just a bit, until you drift back to where you were.

[b_dubb]

ABBA is a palindrome.
THERE ARE NO COINCIDENCES.

palindromes are an abba
coincidences are not on the Wendy's Value Menu and neither are pizza rolls

verily i say unto thee there are no coincidences

[BobGrau]

Here we go...

I've mentioned this elsewhere on the forum, it's difficult to explain correctly.
I had a fairly innocuous experience in a dream that seemed to scare me disproportionately, accompanied with a sense of deja vu. I woke up pondering the dream because it was so scary. I then had the experience a few months later - the fear sprouted when I realised I had definitely* dreamed this before, as opposed to the usual deja vu feeling that you might have dreamed it.
Discuss.


*this was nearly twenty years ago - I'm not so convinced anymore (though over the years I've made a point of approaching skepticism from the far side, just to be sure). But I told myself to remember the fact that I was convinced at the time.

[paladin1991]

I remember reading an article explaining how déjà vu is simply the brain tricking you, the result of a chemical release or a synaptic misfire giving you a false sense that you've encountered something previously, rather than any genuine memory of a past experience.

Kind of took the magic out of the whole thing...  fuckin' scientists.

http://youtu.be/OvmvxAcT_Yc

Whothehellzthatfuckinclown?

[paladin1991]

My theory's just as weird.  I wonder if maybe I've skipped ahead in time, but only like a second or two, so that the things happening around me actually happened a brief second ago so that's why I have a kind of recognition of them.

What if time was like a river, and had little crosscurrents and such, so that most the time you're just hurtling along down the center, but once in awhile you get, for a few seconds, thrust forward just a bit, until you drift back to where you were.

Oooooh.  Time travel.  Sounds like you should call this theory in to Noory when he is salivating over the Ebola deathcount.

[onan]

I'm a fan of the dual processing theory.

[Evil Twin Of Zen]

I'm a fan of the dual processing theory.

my first instant reaction to your statement was "who gives a flyin fish fart". after a few thoughtful moments, i came up with this comment to your post. (nudge, nudge  )

[onan]

my first instant reaction to your statement was "who gives a flyin fish fart". after a few thoughtful moments, i came up with this comment to your post. (nudge, nudge  )

Fuck, now my day is ruined.

[Treading Water]

My theory's just as weird.  I wonder if maybe I've skipped ahead in time, but only like a second or two, so that the things happening around me actually happened a brief second ago so that's why I have a kind of recognition of them.

What if time was like a river, and had little crosscurrents and such, so that most the time you're just hurtling along down the center, but once in awhile you get, for a few seconds, thrust forward just a bit, until you drift back to where you were.

Hey, isn't this a Nick Cage movie??  I know I've heard this theory before.   

[Evil Twin Of Zen]

Fuck, now my day is ruined.

sorry. it was a perilous attempt at showing System 1 and System 2 in a tongue-in-cheek sort of manner. 

[Evil Twin Of Zen]

i'm kind of surprised that Deja vu isn't caused by something closer to what happens with an adrenaline rush. the best example i ever heard of that rush was from a navy pilot that had to eject from his aircraft. he explained that he was able to perceive every single charge going off in the seats eject system. all in slow motion. so slow that he could anticipate each one before it happened.

[zeebo]

Hey, isn't this a Nick Cage movie??  I know I've heard this theory before.   

Hmm really?  I'd love to know more.  I thought it was just (one of) my own crackpot speculations.  Although I'm not sure if the Nick Cage connection puts me on more solid footing or not.   

[Treading Water]

Hmm really?  I'd love to know more.  I thought it was just (one of) my own crackpot speculations.  Although I'm not sure if the Nick Cage connection puts me on more solid footing or not.   

Can't remember if it's "Knowing" or "Next" - he can see 1 or 2 minutes into the future. 
For some reason I always think I'm going to enjoy one of his movies.  Then I don't.  Kinda' like listening to a late night....oh, nevermind.... :

[onan]

sorry. it was a perilous attempt at showing System 1 and System 2 in a tongue-in-cheek sort of manner. 

I so missed it... call me Déjà dumb.

[onan]

Can't remember if it's "Knowing" or "Next" - he can see 1 or 2 minutes into the future. 
For some reason I always think I'm going to enjoy one of his movies.  Then I don't.  Kinda' like listening to a late night....oh, nevermind.... :

It's Next and only slightly better than Knowing, which isn't a complement, at all.

A psychology professor of mine made the point that the event itself is too subjective to make any qualitative study. But it is interesting that some people with medial temporal lobe epilepsy experience Déjà vu prior to a seizure. That type of epilepsy also affects the hippocampus which is where memories are managed.

[Evil Twin Of Zen]

It's Next and only slightly better than Knowing, which isn't a complement, at all.

A psychology professor of mine made the point that the event itself is too subjective to make any qualitative study. But it is interesting that some people with medial temporal lobe epilepsy experience Déjà vu prior to a seizure. That type of epilepsy also affects the hippocampus which is where memories are managed.

neat. has an EEG ever been done at the moment of a deja vu event in someone not afflicted with any type of epilepsy? maybe from someone that plays around with a wearable biosensor designed to work as an EEG. i wonder what it would look like compared to a recorded deja vu prior to the epilepsy seizure.

[Evil Twin Of Zen]

if you felt deja vu as someone related to you something they had done or seen. not in the sense of having heard that person relate it to you before, but that you did/saw that yourself in the exact same way that they did in their story. as if you had been there. does such a thing have a different name other than deja vu?

also, can deja vu be induced in a person?

[area51drone]

also, can deja vu be induced in a person?

According to wikipedia it can be induced with certain drugs.   Which is kind of sad, in my opinion.  It probably is just a mental process where one thought happens just before another - kind of a brain fart, but I would like to think reality is far different than we imagine.  A "glitch in the matrix" would be much more interesting.   It's amazing to me that we know so little about what consciousness actually is.

[paladin1991]

YOu know, I opened up this thread this morning.....and it's, like, I've been here before.

[albrecht]

The brain can do weird things. That is my non-scientific explanation. Haha. Similarly to deja-vu, that maybe more have experienced (not sure,) I was almost in a car accident a while ago and literally time seemed to slow down. Very weird effect. I could see the lady clearly in the other car sliding across the grass median in the highway ultra-clearly and it was like watching a movie in slow-motion, even the steering away from her and watching cars in front of me brake and steer seemed slow. But it really happened in seconds. I hear that good ball players can almost see the baseball, almost frozen, like when they are so-called "in the zone." I don't know if that is training, being born with abilities, brain-training or a combo or both. But this was a very weird, but apparently, common phenomena. Maybe the instant adrenalin or other chemicals and hyper-focus due to a surprising (and possible deadly) event? Maybe extreme focus and training helps the pros use this phenomena on demand?