Déjà Vu’s Counterpart Exists; Jamais Vu More Rare, Unsettling [Study]

(Photo: Pexels/Andrea Piacquadio)
Déjà Vu's Counterpart Exists; Jamais Vu More Rare, Unsettling [Study]

Have you experienced feeling something had already happened before, and it just repeated because it was so familiar? That's déjà vu, and its counterpart is rarer and more unsettling.

Jamais Vu - The Counterpart of Déjà Vu

Jamais vu is the opposite of déjà vu when what you know is familiar feels strange or fresh. In a recent study, the researchers looked into the mechanism underlying the occurrence, which has just earned an Ig Nobel Prize for literature.

Looking at a familiar face and finding it suddenly strange or unknown may be a symptom of jamais vu. Musicians have it bad sometimes when they become lost in a well-known musical section. You might have experienced it by entering a familiar location and feeling disoriented or viewing it with "new eyes."

It's a rarer occurrence than déjà vu, yet it can even be stranger and more unnerving. When the participants in the study were asked to describe their daily experiences, they admitted to feeling confused and unsure. One said they wrote the word "appetite" correctly but kept looking at the phrase repeatedly because they had doubts that it might be incorrect.

Almost nothing is known about jamais vu. However, the researchers predicted it would be relatively simple to induce in the lab. People frequently find it pointless and confusing when you ask them to repeat anything.

People's experiences ranged from "They lose their meaning the more you look at them" to "seemed to lose control of hand" and, of course, our favorite, "It doesn't seem right, almost looks like it's not really a word but someone's tricked me into thinking it is."

The study concluded that jamais vu is when repetition results in transformation and loss of meaning. When anything has become too natural, fluent, or repetitious, you will have jamais vu. The impression of unreality is a reality check, and it aids in helping us "snap out" of our current processing.

To avoid getting bogged down in repetitive tasks for an extended period, our cognitive systems must remain adaptable and allow us to focus our attention on what is needed rather than getting lost in repetitive tasks. The central concept in science is "satiation," or the overloading of a representation to the point of absurdity.

ALSO READ: Headache in Forehead: Symptoms, Causes, Prevention

What Is Déjà Vu?

Déjà vu offers a glimpse into how our memory system functions. Our study discovered that the phenomenon occurs when the area of the brain that recognizes familiarity becomes out of sync with reality. Déjà vu serves as a memory system's way of "fact-checking" and serves as the signal that informs you of this oddity.

Even though déjà vu is typically not an indication of anything serious, such as a mental disease, there are a few potential causes you might want to consider if the occurrences are unsettling you.

People frequently describe experiencing déjà vu when worn out, anxious, or both. This is assumed to be the case because stress and exhaustion frequently impact long- and short-term memory.

Additionally, epilepsy is the neurological illness most frequently linked to déjà vu because it affects the temporal lobe of your brain, where vision is interpreted. There are many different kinds of seizures, but simple partial seizures-also called focal onset conscious seizures-are the ones most frequently linked to déjà vu episodes.

RELATED ARTICLE: How Do 7 to 9 Hours of Sleep Help Improve Mental Health?

Check out more news and information on Déjà Vu in Science Times.