Why do people experience déjà vu?

The déjà vu experienced prior to an epileptic seizure may be enduring, rather than a fleeting feeling in those who don’t have epileptic seizures. In people without epilepsy the vivid recognition combined with the knowledge that the environment is truly novel intrinsically underpins the experience of déjà vu. Mismatches and Short Circuits. Déjà vu in healthy participants is reported as a memory error which may expose the nature of the memory system. read more

In fact, some patients with epilepsy reliably experience déjà vu at the beginning of a seizure. For these individuals, experimental stimulation of the rhinal cortex — and not so much the hippocampus itself — induces déjà vu. read more

In people without epilepsy the vivid recognition combined with the knowledge that the environment is truly novel intrinsically underpins the experience of déjà vu. Mismatches and short circuits Déjà vu in healthy participants is reported as a memory error which may expose the nature of the memory system. read more