www.whyville.net Feb 5, 2012 Weekly Issue



sweet1680
Guest Writer

Did You Know: Deja vu?

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I'm pretty sure that at least at some point of time in your life, you must have experienced deja vu and even heard about it at times. Deja vu, which has always caught my attention and I've always wanted to know more about, has inspired me to write an article for the Whyville Times and to share some facts to my fellow Whyvillians. There are three really weird things about which we do not know everything about yet: Deja vu, Presque vu and Jamais vu.

Deja vu

The term deja vu literally means "already seen" in French. People who have already experienced the feeling describe it as familiarity with something that has happened in the past. Sometimes you might get the feeling that you've already seen the same scene that you are seeing right now. If you're sitting in class while your teacher says something really funny, you might get a feeling that you've already seen the exact same scene before and that you almost know what's going to happen next. Or maybe you're having dinner with some of your friends and discussing about something that happened in the day, you might suddenly get the feeling that you've already experienced and seen the exact same spot and scene before. This is known as deja vu. I'm sure all of us have experienced this, unless you're less than 7-8 years old where you don't seem to get it. It is said to occur the most between the ages 15-25. Although, I'm 12, and I do get it at times. It is said to occur because of the temporal-lobe epilepsy. Although, deja-vu occurring is completely normal and nothing to worry about, because it happens to almost everybody.

Presque vu (Tip Of the Tongue)

"I almost knew what it was, I almost realized but it never came . . ." You may have experienced presque vu, too. The phenomenon is a failure to retrieve a word from your memory, but being able to recall the words related to it. Sometimes our brain wants to help us find the word we're looking for, but while doing that, it blocks all other words not related to it, including the word itself. Maybe while you and your friends are discussing about their favorite actors, and you talk about someone you like a lot, but you cannot recall his/her name. But when the conversation is over, someone might come up and say "Oh! I remember now!". This phenomenon is also called the 'Tip Of the Tongue' phenomenon. The phenomenon's name comes from the saying, "It's on the tip of my tongue." This is also a natural phenomenon in our brain.

Jamais vu

If you've ever tried repeating one word many many many times over and over again, you might find out that the word is losing it's meaning or you might find that fact a little more surprising. This is known as jamais vu. This feeling often occurs when you keep repeating a fact again and again, you might start feeling that the fact is kind of surprising now, or it may appear completely new. Or maybe when you repeat a word it may start to lose it's meaning, and it may not appear to be a word anymore.

I really like knowing more about our brain, I personally find it extremely interesting. In this article I've shared about some of the "Vu's". Deja vu is quite known out of these, and is really interesting how you feel like you've felt and seen the exact same scene before. It amazes me.

Author's Note: Sources: http://science.howstuffworks.com/science-vs-myth/extrasensory-perceptions/question657.htm
http://www.geekosystem.com/all-the-vus/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presque_vu

 

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