The Déjà Vu Experience

by Alan S. Brown

Most of us have been perplexed by a strange sense of familiarity when doing something for the first time. We feel that we have been here before, or done this before, but know for sure that this is impossible. In fact, according to numerous surveys, about two-thirds of us have experienced déjà vu at least once, and most of us have had multiple experiences.

There are a number of credible scientific interpretations of déjà vu, and this book summarizes the broad range of published work from philosophy, religion, neurology, sociology, memory, perception, psychopathology, and psychopharmacology. This book also includes discussion of cognitive functioning in retrieval and familiarity, neuronal transmission, and double perception during the déjà vu experience.

The Déjà Vu Experience covers the recent scientific discoveries and theorizing in perception, cognition, and neurophysiology, which have the potential to help clarify the cause of the déjà vu experience. In addition to summarizing the major historical and contemporary theoretical approaches to the déjà vu experience, the volume will also stimulate additional research on this curious cognitive glitch.

244 pages, Hardcover

First published May 20, 2004

Reviews

[Agnes · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have read this book because I needed some definitions for my PhD thesis. Now I feel sorry I haven't read it before - it's simply great!!!

It is astonishing that such a common phenomenon as deja vu remains so untangible - even the author had problems with a supposedly easy task of posing questions about deja vu for the statistical queries. Because what can you ask about a rare event that lasts only seconds?! Yet, the book contains many numbers, tables, diagrams and other statistics. What a treat :)

[Eric Layton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Probably mostly due to my lifelong interest in Psychology, Behavior, and the Physiology of the human body/brain, and having experienced this phenomenon many times, I found this book extremely interesting. Yes, it's a bit dry and technical in style, but hey... not everything can read like a Stephen King book.

A thorough summary of this book's contents would require excessive typing and space here, so I'll just say, if you have an interest in these topics and this phenomenon (déjà vu), I highly recommend that you give it a looksee!

[Jukka Häkkinen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Todella perusteellinen katsaus deja vu-ilmiöön. Erityisesti historiallinen osuus oli todella kattava. Puutteet olivat selkeitä, teksti olisi kaivannut integrointia aja analyysia. Nykyteoriat olisi ollut selkeää erottaa vanhoista. Teksti oli myös paikka paikoin vanhentunutta, alan tutkimuksessa on viimeisen kymmenen vuoden aikana tapahtunut paljon edistystä.

[Aj Nicholson · Rating 4 out of 5]

could’ve sworn i’ve read this before 🧐