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POLITIKOFF

Déjà vu may not be a brain error, but a...

Politiko 2026-06-11 09:32:45

Déjà vu may not be a brain error, but a...

Logically, if an experience is clearly new, it shouldn't trigger déjà vu, the strange feeling that we've experienced it before. However, researchers found the opposite: the more certain people were that something was new, the more often they reported déjà vu.

According to memory researcher Akira O'Connor, the phenomenon is related to what's called “memory conflict.” Déjà vu occurs when the feeling of familiarity clashes with the knowledge that the situation could not have been experienced before.

To study this, the scientists used lists of related words, such as “snow,” “winter,” “ice,” and “freezing,” which suggested a word that never appeared, such as “cold.” Even though the word was missing, participants often believed they had seen it. When it appeared later, it looked familiar, but they knew it hadn’t appeared before.

This created the ideal conflict for the study. Out of 21 volunteers, 16 experienced déjà vu, especially when the feeling of familiarity clashed with evidence that the word was new.

To see what was happening in the brain, the researchers used magnetic resonance imaging. Activity increased in frontal areas of the brain associated with detecting and resolving conflicts, particularly the anterior cingulate cortex. Parts of the medial prefrontal cortex and parietal cortex, which help the brain monitor its own mental processes, were also activated.

These results suggest that déjà vu is not necessarily caused by a hidden memory. The feeling of familiarity can arise separately from the recall of real events, while the frontal lobe of the brain controls whether this feeling is reliable. This theory also explains why déjà vu becomes rarer with age. The brain's systems that detect small contradictions weaken over the years. Practically, déjà vu may be evidence that the brain is constantly verifying reality and distinguishing true memories from deceptive signals. /Earth

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