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"This Feels Awfully Familiar" | A Personal Essay On Deja Vu
Writing | May 5, 2020
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Words by: Mia Drew-Crenshaw
Images: Twin Peaks (1990)
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We’ve all experienced déjà vu before, that strange, unshakeable sense of having been in this exact spot and having done this exact thing before. Maybe it is simply because you have stood in your hallway at 5pm being yelled at by your mum for hoarding all the cups before, but maybe it’s caused by something else. To try and explain this phenomenon, here are some theories on what might cause you to experience déjà vu.
Multiple Universes
Starting off strong with a theory so confusing that I had to read about eight articles (of varying degrees of credibility) just to gain a vague understanding of it. This theory basically relies on the idea that there are parallel universes all around us vibrating at different frequencies (which, as crazy as it sounds, is a legitimate theory in physics). So déjà vu might be caused by you, in this universe, doing something similar to what you did in a universe that is close by. Sadly this speculation is not particularly scientific and highly unlikely to be the reason for déjà vu.
The Tuning Fork Phenomenon
According to the Spiritual Research Foundation, 50% of déjà vu cases are caused by something called ‘the tuning fork phenomenon’. This one is a little more out there but stay with me. The Tuning Fork explanation is formed around the idea that each person's emotions and thoughts are emitted as frequencies or waves. The tuning fork phenomenon is when your frequencies temporarily match up with someone else's frequencies, causing you to ‘remember’ an experience that person had.
Dual Processing
This is definitely the most scientific of the theories and probably most accurate (although multiple universes does win the prize for coolest explanation). Dr.James Giordano, a professor of neurology and biochemistry, explains it like this: “Déjà vu involves a number of brain networks, including those that function in sensory processes, memory, emotion, and decision-making.” Even though these processes occur in different parts of the brain, “this happens very quickly, and in most cases, information reaches the frontal cortex in a simultaneous, harmonized way.” In simple terms, when we have a new experience we unconsciously compare it to our past experiences in order to help us navigate it. Usually this happens nicely and in sync, sometimes however, one of the brain networks used in this process might ‘lag’ a bit, causing you to feel that jarring contrast of familiarity in an unfamiliar space.
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