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Deja Vu
By: Rylan Albert
We all know that song, “Deja Vu”, by Olivia Rodrigo. One of the lines in this song is, “Do you get deja vu, huh?”. Well, I do! All the time, actually. It’s pretty weird, and I’ve always wondered why it occurs, so I decided to look at the science behind it. Oh, and by the way, the song doesn’t have anything to do with it.
First of all, the word “deja vu” comes from from the French, meaning “already seen”. Hopefully, that gives you a small idea.
So now, let me explain what deja vu feels like. I get it all the time. For me, I could just be doing something random, or looking around, and it feels like I’ve already lived through the moment. Like it’s already happened, and I’m living through it, or seeing it again. For example, at my softball tryouts the other day, for like 20 seconds-ish, it seemed like I’ve already seen every little detail happening when we were doing pop-flys. You can’t control what’s going to happen next, but it’s like you’ve seen this before. Just to mention that, this was my first tryout on that field, and with those girls and coaches. It’s actually pretty crazy if you think about it, so let’s look into why it happens!
Well, to start, about 60% to 70% of people have deja vu at some point in their life, and majority of people are aged 15-25 years old when it mostly occurs. I have it so much, and I’m only 12! Note that it says MOST people are aged 15-25 years old, so it doesn’t really matter, that’s just what studies have shown.
Now, let’s actually see what actually CAUSES deja vu. The memories you make get stored in the temporal lobe, a part of your brain that manages your emotions, as well your memories. The temporal lobe also helps you recognize familiar places or experiences, so it’s pretty important. Scientists don’t quite know the answer to why deja vu occurs, yet most of them do believe that it is connected to the temporal lobe area. According to cognitive psychologist Akira Robert O’Conner, “The feeling may arise when parts of your brain that recognize familiar situations get activated inappropriately”. So, deja vu may be like a recall of past experiences.
Deja vu isn’t necessarily dangerous, or unhealthy, but you may be caught oddly staring off into the distance. Have you ever experienced deja vu?
Sources:
https://www.webmd.com/mental-health/what-is-deja-vu
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