And they have a real healthy fact-checking frontal part of the brain.

However, this happens as younger people generally have a greater kind of excitatory activity in their brains – they’re generally more active. “It’s really interesting that younger people get more déjà vu – older people are normally expected to have more memory quirks. You become less able to notice errors,” says O’Connor. “Unfortunately, like many memory issues, it's just a natural part of ageing. Wondered why you don’t experience déjà vu as much as you used to? This is because, according to rigorous scientific research, you’re getting on a bit. “This could be why dopaminergic drugs, recreational or otherwise, tend to often cause elevated reports of déjà vu.” © Getty And when we talk about the brain regions that are signalling familiarity, there would be dopaminergic action in those neurones – this basically means dopamine is involved,” O’Connor explains.

“Dopamine is what’s called an excitatory neurotransmitter. Research has also highlighted a possible link between the neurotransmitter dopamine (a known mood-booster) and déjà vu. And so your neuronal firing is more likely to be a bit off and result in déjà vu,” he explains. “When your brain is fatigued like this, your internal neuronal systems haven't had the chance to kind of recuperate and really regulate themselves. If not, a déjà vu realisation can occur.” What makes somebody more likely to experience déjà vu?Īlthough O’Connor estimates a healthy person will experience déjà vu once a month on average, several factors can raise your chance of feeling the sensation.įirstly: how tired and stressed you are. 'If you have actually been in that place before, you may try harder to retrieve more memories. “After this, the frontal decision-making areas of the brain effectively checks to see whether or not this signal is consistent with what is possible. However, most of the main competing theories share the same idea: déjà vu occurs when areas of the brain (such as the temporal lobe) feed the mind's frontal regions signals that a past experience is repeating itself. Unfortunately, there is no single agreed model that explains exactly what happens in the brain during déjà vu. This is to be expected because your memory involves millions and billions of neurones. 'In a healthy person, such misremembering is going to happen every day. It's a sign that the fact-checking brain regions are working well, preventing you from misremembering events. “For the vast majority of people, experiencing déjà vu is probably a good thing.

As O’Connor argues, déjà vu occurs when the frontal regions of the brain attempt to correct an inaccurate memory. However, neuroscientists have determined that this memory illusion isn’t a sign of an unhealthy brain – it’s by no means a memory error. Unfortunately, as far as we know, the 60 per cent of people who report feeling déjà vu in their lives haven’t just experienced a glitch in the Matrix. What is déjà vu, according to neuroscience? So what happens in the brain during déjà vu? And why do some people experience this phenomenon more than others? In case you’ve drawn a blank, you can familiarise yourself with our full guide below. “Most healthy people don’t tend to believe the sensation of familiarity and change their behaviour – like Neo in The Matrix, they logically know something isn’t right.” And it’s the awareness that you're being tricked that makes déjà vu so unique compared to other memory events,” he explains. “Déjà vu is basically a conflict between the sensation of familiarity and the awareness that the familiarity is incorrect. According to experts like Dr Akira O’Connor, senior psychology lecturer at the University of St Andrews, déjà vu – the French for 'already seen' – is not only a feeling of familiarity, but also the metacognitive recognition that these feelings are misplaced. However, many neuroscientists would say this answer lacks a little je ne sais quoi. Sorry if you think we’ve already asked, but do you know exactly what déjà vu is? If you’re like most sensible people, you’ll likely say it’s the bizarre feeling that you’ve experienced something that’s happened before.

Scientific explanation for deja vu