Do you get déjà vu?

Castiel · 18 Jan 2011 at 15:11

I get the feeling I've seen this thread before.

utajoker · 18 Jan 2011 at 15:14

Freefaller · 18 Jan 2011 at 15:38

I used to have a lot more when I used to travel around the world. Waking up in a hotel after hotel, having similar conversations with different project managers and contractors about similar jobs did render itself to having quite a few. Clearly it was my mind trying to assimilate the situation and drawing from previous similar experiences and projects with potentially the same people and same locations. It's uncanny though as sometimes you swear you've met someone or discussed or experiences something before, when you clearly haven't.

Vulcan · 18 Jan 2011 at 17:44

I've had deja vu's about deja vu's. Anyone else had similar?

Cosimo · 18 Jan 2011 at 17:48

Longbow said:
I've had deja vu's about deja vu's. Anyone else had similar?

I've had a deja vu about your deja vu. How strange.

Lopéz · 18 Jan 2011 at 18:12

I experience it reasonably often and it's always an extremely strong and "real" sensation that often literally stops me in my tracks.

sanaxe1 · 18 Jan 2011 at 18:23

I have them quite often. What i also get is i have very realistic dreams and its like my brain is saving them to my real life memory instead of dream memory and i find my self questioning if i actually did that or if it was a dream. ( does anyone know what this is called ?)

buckeejit · 18 Jan 2011 at 19:30

neilw said:
I dream things and then see them in real life.

lcg · 18 Jan 2011 at 19:58

Yes, I do get déjà vu.

Longbow said:
I've had deja vu's about deja vu's. Anyone else had similar?

I had one of those just now, and spent a little while thinking about this. Then I log onto OcUK and see this thread :eek:

ojrules · 18 Jan 2011 at 20:01

aln said:
Sometimes when I'm asleep, and not dreaming, I'm aware of whats happening around me. But it feels a bit like my consciousness has been supressed to a lower level, like background noise, but if realise this and can wake myself up if I so choose to. It feels weird and takes a few seconds, but its deffo not like being disturbed in a normal sleep.

are you talking about like if you're sleeping(like in the car for instance), but you're still listening into a conversation, and someone asks if you're sleeping and you wake up, but recall them asking?

russ0r · 18 Jan 2011 at 20:02

Yes.
A psychologist friend of mine once told me it's caused by your brain storing a piece of information in both short-term and long-term memory at the same time.
Because long-term memory is only used for recalling stuff that happened a while ago, you think you've seen it at some point in the past, when you actually haven't.

Although there seem to be lots of different theories about what it actually is, so take that with a pinch of salt.

Scuzzy · 18 Jan 2011 at 20:44

In a weird type of way... Yes

Stumble Bum · 18 Jan 2011 at 20:51

russ0r said:
Yes.
A psychologist friend of mine once told me it's caused by your brain storing a piece of information in both short-term and long-term memory at the same time.
Because long-term memory is only used for recalling stuff that happened a while ago, you think you've seen it at some point in the past, when you actually haven't.

Although there seem to be lots of different theories about what it actually is, so take that with a pinch of salt.

This theory sounds the most plausible way of understanding it.

bainbridge · 18 Jan 2011 at 23:29

Its because one of our eyes is stronger than the other. Just like right & left-handers we all either right or left-eyed. The optic nerves & pathways for the dominant eye get the information to the brain just before the other, creating the "this has happened before" sensation.

I have no idea why it doesn't happen all the time.

jordan282 · 19 Jan 2011 at 00:12

Im pretty sure I do. I think I dream about something happening and something similar happens. Either that or i forget I have done something then it happens again xD

aln · 20 Jan 2011 at 19:40

ojrules said:
are you talking about like if you're sleeping(like in the car for instance), but you're still listening into a conversation, and someone asks if you're sleeping and you wake up, but recall them asking?

Something like that, yes.

I don't just wake up confused asking who said my name. One time I was sleeping, and I heard some weird bangs on the house. After a few minutes my mind decided that "noises in house = bad" so I made the decision to wake myself wake up and jumped into action to discover a window in the house fully open. I often get woke up in the night by the cat, or the other half kicking/punching in her sleep and its a completely different thing. In the later situations I'm generally tired and grumpy, the former is the most awake I can be.

SourChipmunk · 20 Jan 2011 at 20:14

sanaxe1 said:
I have them quite often. What i also get is i have very realistic dreams and its like my brain is saving them to my real life memory instead of dream memory and i find my self questioning if i actually did that or if it was a dream. ( does anyone know what this is called ?)

Um, schizophrenia?

Go get help, man! :eek:

I have pretty strong déjà vu experiences. Some so intense that I can predict what will happen next. It makes perfect sense that it is merely a lapse in the brain transferring information from one part to another (and other theories).

ojrules · 20 Jan 2011 at 20:33

aln said:
Something like that, yes.

I don't just wake up confused asking who said my name. One time I was sleeping, and I heard some weird bangs on the house. After a few minutes my mind decided that "noises in house = bad" so I made the decision to wake myself wake up and jumped into action to discover a window in the house fully open. I often get woke up in the night by the cat, or the other half kicking/punching in her sleep and its a completely different thing. In the later situations I'm generally tired and grumpy, the former is the most awake I can be.

yeh i get this.. someone can come into my room at night and i'l not know, but if the dog starts barking, even though its quiet i will wake up.. it takes me a while usually to figure out if i was dreaming the barking though...

milkinc13 · 20 Jan 2011 at 20:45

yes, and sometimes it can be scary.

has happened a couple of times where i've been somewhere and time seams to have slowed down whilst everyone around me is carrying on at normal pace, and it feels like i'm dreaming it happening like i've been there before in real life and this is a dream, when this is real.

Also had dreams about a place never been to don't know where, gone to that place randomly and not knowing what is meant/means and not having been there before and had a feeling of "i've been here before but don't know when or why" thought about it later and it's been from a dream.

w3bbo · 20 Jan 2011 at 20:56

russ0r said:
Yes.
A psychologist friend of mine once told me it's caused by your brain storing a piece of information in both short-term and long-term memory at the same time.
Because long-term memory is only used for recalling stuff that happened a while ago, you think you've seen it at some point in the past, when you actually haven't.

Although there seem to be lots of different theories about what it actually is, so take that with a pinch of salt.

I've read the same/similar theory. I personally think it has something to do with sensory input 'lag'. Similar to gaming lag, the brain reads the sensory info it is being fed but half the brain interprets that info slightly quicker than the other half (layman term lol) leading you to believe' you have done this before, been here before, experienced this before' when in actual fact you havn't.

I have dejavu bouts for seconds at a time when I almost feel I can predict what is going to happen next (obviously I can't but thats what it feels like)!