What is Deja Vu?

Question

I know it's like when you feel as if something has happened before....why is this?

Answer 1

the mind is probably the most complicated thing that exists. the feeling of having done something before is a cool feeling. why question something that is nice? our minds play tricks that may never be figured out, but I'm no doctor, so you probably will get much better answers..

Answer 2

Singleman had a very good technical answer.

I am fortunate to have had a number of Deja Vu experiences in my life, although not so recently. And the most profound events were associated to one person. Years ago I had met this girl who was from my area, but living in Charlottesville about 3 hours away. She invited me to a couple of new years eve parties and I accepted.  

The first party started out more odd than spooky. The girl having the party lived in an upstairs apartment in a slum area with very narrow hallways and stairs. As we got to the door there was a hasp (for padlocks) on the outside, like you were trying to keep something in, rather than out. The partygiver was a pretty girl, but wore a long skirt to hide her hips which were deformed since birth, She had had some 18 or 20 surgeries to that point. She was in fact, what I would call "one of the beautiful people" in this world.  The party was loaded with people, and we stayed for several hours. But, except for the girl and my date, every one I met at the party, none of whom I knew, or knew me, had the same instant feeling of knowing each other. That happened one at a time, repeatedly for hours. I wasn't sure if I was actually going to  leave that apt. Everyone in there felt like they knew me, but had never seen me before. I was wondering if I had entered some cycle that was destined to repeat itself endlessly. It may not sound like much in description, but the feeling was very intense.

We finally left there to my relief, although I was having a good time, and went to the next party. At this party, I actually knew nearly everyone there.  The evening was very interesting.

Later when I was visiting her, it was winter. We had gone to pick up two puppies on a farm outside Charlottesville. We went for a ride with a friend of hers who had the dogs, and decided to stay in a small motel on the side of a hill. As we enterd this motel, I visualized everything about it in my mind, seconds prior to seeing it. This was an old motel. No tv, radiator heat, something out of the movies. And then to pass the time,  her friend, who was a personell recruiter, told us some stories about some of his recruiting adventures. And as he told the stories, I literally pictured the event, moments before he spoke it. And they were some very odd events. I saw exactly what he described, but before he described it.   It was creepy. I was glad when we left there the next morning.

This is not so much of a definition as an example. Its really about the feeling you get.

TopCatt

Answer 3

Déjà vu (pronounced /ˈdeɪʒɑː ˈvuː/ (help·info); French /deʒa vy/ (help·info) "already seen"; also called paramnesia, from Greek παρα para, "near" + μνήμη mnēmē, "memory") is the experience of feeling sure that one has witnessed or experienced a new situation previously (an individual feels as though an event has already happened or has repeated itself). The term was coined by a French psychic researcher, Émile Boirac (1851–1917) in his book L'Avenir des sciences psychiques (The Future of Psychic Sciences), which expanded upon an essay he wrote while an undergraduate. The experience of déjà vu is usually accompanied by a compelling sense of familiarity, and also a sense of "eeriness", "strangeness", or "weirdness". The "previous" experience is most frequently attributed to a dream, although in some cases there is a firm sense that the experience "genuinely happened" in the past.

The experience of déjà vu seems to be quite common among adults and children alike; in formal studies 70% of people report having experienced it at least once. References to the experience of déjà vu are also found in literature of the past, indicating it is not a new phenomenon. It has been extremely difficult to evoke the déjà vu experience in laboratory settings, therefore making it a subject of few empirical studies. Recently, researchers have found ways to recreate this sensation using hypnosis.[1]

Answer 4

Deja Vu is a really a mind playing tricks on you and the only way to get rid it is to know what you want and keeping it in your head and if it keeps happening the you have serious problems.

hope this helps

Answer 5

I've heard from a doctor that this happens when a certain part of you brain shuts down for a split second, giving you the impression that what is happening is occuring for the second time.

Answer 6

Something you feel like you have experienced before it happens