What IS deja vu?

[Awakened_Mind]

De je Vu to me, is when you have a dream and then a period of time later, you have an experience in waking reality that directly matches that experience. Usually for me it's something trivial like sitting at a buss stop and the scene suddenly looks familiar.

I'm curious, as of late, my De je Vu's are increasing in clairty and duration.

-AM

[Sharpe]

Awakened mind, my first post explained how a neuropsychologist explained how dejavu's supposedly worked, you study psyche right? Can you check with your professors if it's correct?

[Awakened_Mind]

The hippocampus is a part of the brain which, amongst other functions, is responsible for processing memories. Memories themselves are stored over the entire brain, not just in the hippocampus. In fact memory is like most of the areas of psychology, we have a model for it but that's all we have. Memory itself you may recall from another thread with studies done by Elizaboth Loftus, show that memory can be influenced, manipulated and changed.

The problem I find personally with psychology trying to explain a De ja Vu is that psychology is a science. So it is bound to explain certain phenomena in a materialist way. In other words, spirituality does not exist and there is nothing mystifying about the experience.

I have read explanations for a De ja Vu and I think a link was posted on this forum some time ago, perhaps by youself, I don't find scientific explanations suffice. I can have a dream for example and then remember that dream some time later. Years later sometimes, the information just comes rushing back in and I'm sitting there like "Oh I remember that." Well a De ja Vu is similar, except instead of the image appearing in my minds eye, it appears in physical reality. It feels the same.

I suppose the explanation neuropsychology may be adequate because they haven't experienced de ja vu's or they are just too close minded to believe that it might be some mental perception that transcends time. That's not the easiest thing to swallow anyway! I'd disagree with the neuropsychologist perspective, as would many other studying psychologists. There are many sub-fields in the area and we're all working like madmen looking for answers.

I suppose certain areas of psychology may have theories of de ja vu that people agree with but there is no consensus at the moment.

-AM

[Stookie]

I had a very vivid dream a couple years ago that happened in an elaborate indoor/outdoor shopping & entertainment area. I wrote the dream down in detail, plus it was one of those that's impossible to forget.

This past spring I was on vacation in another state, somewhere I've never been, and I saw the exact same place - or at least the way I remembered it. It was fairly new, and the layout of the land and streets and buildings around it made me immediately think, "I've been here".

Maybe I saw a picture of it on the internet or TV and it made it's way into my dream, or maybe it was just coincidentally similar enough that my memory is convinced it's the same place. Or maybe it was a genuine psychic experience. It was a freaky deja vu moment either way.