Abstracts from articles about normal déjà vu

Creating illusions of past encounter through brief exposure

Psychol Sci. 2009 May;20(5):534-8.

Brown AS, Marsh EJ.

Department of Psychology, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, TX 75275, USA. abrown a smu.edu

Titchener (1928) suggested that briefly glancing at a scene could make it appear strangely familiar when it was fully processed moments later. The closest laboratory demonstration used words as stimuli, and showed that briefly glancing at a to-be-judged word increased the subject's belief that it had been presented in an earlier study list (Jacoby & Whitehouse, 1989). We evaluated whether a hasty glance could elicit a false belief in a prior encounter, from a time and place outside of the experiment. This goal precluded using word stimuli, so we had subjects evaluate unfamiliar symbols. Each symbol was preceded by a brief exposure to an identical symbol, a different symbol, or no symbol. A brief glance at an identical symbol increased attributions to preexperimental experience, relative to a glance at a different symbol or no symbol, providing a possible mechanism for common illusions of false recognition.

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Recognition without identification, erroneous familiarity, and déjà vu

Curr Psychiatry Rep. 2010 Jun;12(3):165-73.

O'Connor AR, Moulin CJ.

Department of Psychology, Washington University in St. Louis, One Brookings Drive, St. Louis, MO 63130, USA. aoconnor a wustl.edu
Abstract

Déjà vu is characterized by the recognition of a situation concurrent with the awareness that this recognition is inappropriate. Although forms of déjà vu resolve in favor of the inappropriate recognition and therefore have behavioral consequences, typical déjà vu experiences resolve in favor of the awareness that the sensation of recognition is inappropriate. The resultant lack of behavioral modification associated with typical déjà vu means that clinicians and experimenters rely heavily on self-report when observing the experience. In this review, we focus on recent déjà vu research. We consider issues facing neuropsychological, neuroscientific, and cognitive experimental frameworks attempting to explore and experimentally generate the experience. In doing this, we suggest the need for more experimentation and a more cautious interpretation of research findings, particularly as many techniques being used to explore déjà vu are in the early stages of development.

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Novel insights into false recollection: A model of déjà vécu

Cognitive Neuropsychiatry, Volume 15, Issue 1 - 3 January 2010 , pages 118 - 144

Akira R. O'Connor (a); Colin Lever (b); Chris J. A. Moulin (c)
a Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA
b Institute of Psychological Sciences, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK
c Leeds Memory Group, Institute of Psychological Sciences, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK

Abstract

The thesis of this paper is that déjà vu experiences can be separated into two forms: déjà vu, arising from the erroneous sensation of familiarity, and déjà vécu, arising from the erroneous sensation of recollection. We summarise a series of cases for whom déjà vécu is experienced frequently and for extended periods, and seek to differentiate their experiences from “healthy” déjà vu experiences by nonbrain-damaged participants. In reviewing our cases, we stress two novel ideas: that déjà vécu in these cases is delusion-like; and that these cases experience déjà vécu for stimuli that are especially novel or unusual. Here we present a novel cognitive neuroscientific hypothesis of déjà vécu. This hypothesis assumes that the signal of retrieval from memory is neurally dissociable from the contents of retrieval. We suggest that a region downstream of the hippocampus signals “recollection” by detecting the timing of firing in hippocampal output neurons relative to the theta oscillation. Disruptions to this “temporal coding” mechanism result in false signals of recollection which may occur without actual retrieval and which, ironically, may arise particularly during situations of contextual novelty.

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Neuroimaging and cognitive changes during déjà vu

Epilepsy Behav. 2009 Jan;14(1):190-6. Epub 2008 Oct 5.

Kovacs N, Auer T, Balas I, Karadi K, Zambo K, Schwarcz A, Klivenyi P, Jokeit H, Horvath K, Nagy F, Janszky J.

Department of Neurology, University of Pecs, Pecs, Hungary. kovacsnorbert06 a gmail.com

OBJECTIVE: The cause or the physiological role of déjà vu (DV) in healthy people is unknown. The pathophysiology of DV-type epileptic aura is also unresolved. Here we describe a 22-year-old woman treated with deep brain stimulation (DBS) of the left internal globus pallidus for hemidystonia. At certain stimulation settings, DBS elicited reproducible episodes of DV.

METHODS: Neuropsychological tests and single-photon-emission computed tomography (SPECT) were performed during DBS-evoked DV and during normal DBS stimulation without DV.

RESULTS: SPECT during DBS-evoked DV revealed hyperperfusion of the right (contralateral to the electrode) hippocampus and other limbic structures. Neuropsychological examinations performed during several evoked DV episodes revealed disturbances in nonverbal memory.

CONCLUSION: Our results confirm the role of mesiotemporal structures in the pathogenesis of DV. We hypothesize that individual neuroanatomy and disturbances in gamma oscillations or in the dopaminergic system played a role in DBS-elicited DV in our patient.

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Déjà vu in the laboratory: a behavioral and experiential comparison of posthypnotic amnesia and posthypnotic familiarity

Int J Clin Exp Hypn. 2008 Oct;56(4):425-50.

O'Connor AR, Barnier AJ, Cox RE.

University of Leeds, United Kingdom. aoconnor a wustl.edu

This experiment aimed to create a laboratory analogue of déjà vu. During hypnosis, 1 group of high hypnotizables completed a puzzle game and then received a posthypnotic amnesia suggestion to forget the game (PHA condition). Another group of highs were not given the game but received a posthypnotic familiarity suggestion that it would feel familiar (PHF condition). After hypnosis, all participants were given the game and described their reactions to it. Whereas 83% of participants in both conditions passed their respective suggestions, more in the PHF condition felt a sense of déjà vu. An EAT inquiry revealed that they experienced sensory fascination and confusion about the source of familiarity, akin to everyday déjà vu. These findings highlight the value of using hypnosis as a laboratory analogue of déjà vu and provide a framework for investigating clinical manifestations of this phenomenon.

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Recognition Memory, Familiarity, and Déjà vu Experiences

Current Directions in Psychological Science, Volume 17 Issue 5, Pages 353 - 357; Published Online: 15 Oct 2008

Cleary AM

Address correspondence to Anne M. Cleary, Department of Psychology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523-1876; anne.cleary (at) colostate (dot) edu.

Déjà vu occurs when one feels as though a situation is familiar, despite evidence that the situation could not have been experienced before. Until recently, the topic of déjà vu remained largely outside of the realm of mainstream scientific investigation. However, interest in investigating the nature of déjà vu is growing among researchers of cognitive processes. In some cases, déjà vu may be understood within the context of research on human recognition memory. Specifically, déjà vu may sometimes result from familiarity-based recognition, or recognition that is based on feelings of familiarity that occur without identification of their source.

Copyright © 2008 Association for Psychological Science

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Can deja vu result from similarity to a prior experience? Support for the similarity hypothesis of deja vu?

Psychon Bull Rev. 2009 Dec;16(6):1082-8.

Cleary AM, Ryals AJ, Nomi JS.

Department of Psychology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado 80523-1876, USA. anne.cleary a colostate.edu

Abstract

The strange feeling of having been somewhere or done something before--even though there is evidence to the contrary--is called déjà vu. Although déjà vu is beginning to receive attention among scientists (Brown, 2003, 2004), few studies have empirically investigated the phenomenon. We investigated the hypothesis that déjà vu is related to feelings of familiarity and that it can result from similarity between a novel scene and that of a scene experienced in one's past. We used a variation of the recognition-without-recall method of studying familiarity (Cleary, 2004) to examine instances in which participants failed to recall a studied scene in response to a configurally similar novel test scene. In such instances, resemblance to a previously viewed scene increased both feelings of familiarity and of déjà vu. Furthermore, in the absence of recall, resemblance of a novel scene to a previously viewed scene increased the probability of a reported déjà vu state for the novel scene, and feelings of familiarity with a novel scene were directly related to feelings of being in a déjà vu state.

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Déjà vu experiences are rarely associated with pathological dissociation

The Journal of nervous and mental disease 2008;196(5):417-9.

Adachi N [1]; Akanuma N [2]; Adachi T [1,3]; Takekawa Y [4]; Adachi Y [5]; Ito M [6]; and Ikeda H [7]

1 Adachi Mental Clinic, Kitano 7-5-12, Kiyota, Sapporo, Japan 004-0867
2 Adult Mental Health Service, South London & Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, London
3 Department of Psychiatry, Juntendo University Hospital, Tokyo
4 Department of Psychological Medicine, Hiratsuka Kyosai Hospital, Hiratsuka
5 Department of Internal Medicine, Sapporo Shirakabadai Hospital, Sapporo
6 National Center Hospital for Mental, Nervous and Muscular Disorders, Kodaira
7 Department of Neuropsychiatry, Sapporo Medical University Hospital, Sapporo

We investigated the relation between déjà vu and dissociative experiences in nonclinical subjects. In 227 adult volunteers, déjà vu and dissociative experiences were evaluated by means of the Inventory of Déjà vu Experiences Assessment (IDEA) and Dissociative Experiences Scale (DES). Déjà vu experiences occurred in 162 (71.4%) individuals. In univariate correlation analysis, the frequency of déjà vu experiences, as well as five other IDEA symptoms and age at the time of evaluation, correlated significantly with the DES score. After exclusion of intercorrelative effects using multiple regression analysis, déjà vu experiences did not remain in the model. The DES score was best correlated with a model that included age, jamais vu, depersonalization, and precognitive dreams. Two indices for pathological dissociation (DES-taxon and DES =30) were not associated with déjà vu experiences. Our findings suggest that déjà vu experiences are unlikely to be core pathological dissociative experiences.

Key Words: déjà vu experiences, dissociation, depersonalization, Dissociative Experiences Scale (DES)

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Demographic and psychological features of déjà vu experiences in a nonclinical Japanese population

J Nerv Ment Dis. 2003 Apr;191(4):242-7.

Adachi N, Adachi T, Kimura M, Akanuma N, Takekawa Y, Kato M.

Adachi Mental Clinic, Kitano 7-5-12, Kiyota, Sapporo, Japan 004-0867.

The authors investigated the frequency and correlates of déjà vu experiences in 386 healthy adult volunteers recruited from several areas in Japan. Déjà vu experiences and related experiences were evaluated using the Inventory of Déjà vu Experiences Assessment. Déjà vu experiences were observed by 294 (76.2%) of the 386 participants. Persons who experienced déjà vu were younger and more educated than persons who had not experienced it. There were no differences in the frequency of déjà vu experiences based on sex, hand preference, or area of residence. Subsequent factor analysis associated déjà vu with precognitive dreams and remembering dreams as dream- and memory-related factors rather than with the dissociation-related factors of depersonalization, derealization, jamais vu, and daydreams or with mental activity-related factors such as paranormal quality and travel frequency. Results suggest that déjà vu experiences are associated with good memory function.

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[Depersonalization and déjà vu experiences: prevalences in nonclinical samples] [Article in German]

Z Klin Psychol Psychopathol Psychother. 1991;39(4):357-68.

Probst P, Jansen J.

Psychologisches Institut II, Universität Hamburg.

According to the relevant psychological and psychiatric literature, depersonalization and déjà vu experiences are usually viewed as symptoms of severe psychiatric or neurological disorders, especially in schizophrenia, depression and epilepsy. Studies of these phenomena in non-clinical populations are rate. In this article we present the results of several epidemiological investigations. On the basis of survey and interview research, quantitative and qualitative aspects of both phenomena were assessed, as well as the relations with personality variables like emotionality. The results indicate prevalence rates up to 80 percent in non-clinical populations. Based on epidemiological considerations, the question of differentiation between clinical and non-clinical forms of depersonalization and déjà vu is discussed.