What Is Déjà Vu?

Deja vu is that feeling you have done this exact thing before, with people around you saying and doing the exact same things. This is not the same as remembering a time when something similar happened or a repetitive task that happens routinely.

Literally, deja vu is French meaning to see again, but the most common experience with deja vu is to feel like you are doing something you have already done once.

Though the feeling of deja vu has fascinated scientists around the world, no one is sure of the exact causes or even physical reactions that create the feeling. This is at least partially due to the fact that the feeling of deja vu is not something easily replicated in a laboratory for additional study. Therefore, much of the study of deja vu is hypothetical.

The situations in which people experience deja vu can be extremely varied. Sometimes, this experience is associated with dreaming of the event or even lucid dreaming, a semi-conscious state in which we allow ourselves to project or “dream” about an upcoming event.

People can be so focused, or worried, about an upcoming event that the minds plays through a multitude of scenarios prior to the event, filling in the details with the most likely reactions of other people based on our past experience with them. When the event actually occurs, it can feel like, been there and done that, because in our minds, we have. This will usually happen with familiar people in unfamiliar places.

Deja vu can also occur when a person’s mind fills in the blanks regarding an experience before they actually happen. This can happen because you are so familiar with the people around you that you anticipate how they are going to react and imagine that you have heard their reaction before, or perhaps have heard an identical reaction in a similar situation. This is more likely to occur in every day situations when the outcome is predictable.


Other scientists argue that deja vu is a form of mixed memory when a scent or a portion of a current moment calls to mind a memory. The memory meshes with the current events and the brain is confused into feeling that it has experienced these sensations before.

Although there is some evidence to indicate that deja vu could be associated with a mild form of epilepsy in the temporal lobe of the brain and minor seizures, it is very common and not generally indicative of larger brain problems. Most of the time, deja vu falls into the category of “Wow, that was weird” and then people move on.