Origin of Deja Vu Pinpointed

LiveScience ^ | 6/7/07 | Dave Mosher

[LibWhacker]

The brain cranks out memories near its center, in a looped wishbone of tissue called the hippocampus. But a new study suggests only a small chunk of it, called the dentate gyrus, is responsible for “episodic” memories—information that allows us to tell similar places and situations apart.

The finding helps explain where déjà vu originates in the brain, and why it happens more frequently with increasing age and with brain-disease patients, said MIT neuroscientist Susumu Tonegawa. The study is detailed today in the online version of the journal Science.

[Cowboy Bob]

I believe its a French word.

[SIDENET]

I thought deja vu was a glitch in the Matrix.

[vortigern]

OH! NO! Not this all over again?

[TaxPayer2000]

I know I have read this story before.

[N. Theknow]

Have you seen this post?

[N. Theknow]

Have you seen this post?

[N. Theknow]

Have you seen this post?

[N. Theknow]

Have you seen this post?

[Old Professer]

This old crap again, I remember the first time they said this I thought it was obvious.

[southernnorthcarolina]

Here it is.

[Donald Rumsfeld Fan]

Nope. It originated with Yogi Berra.

"This is like deja vu all over again"

[EternalVigilance]

Gosh. That's deja vu all over again!

[EternalVigilance]

Dang. You beat me to it! :-)

[NCLaw441]

It increases with age for a pretty simple reason. With age comes experience, and more opportunities for “deja vu” experiences to occur. The resemblance between any current situation and one resembling a situation that may have been in in the past is much more likely with a greater storehouse of memories.

[EternalVigilance]

“You’ve got to be very careful if you don’t know where you’re going, because you might not get there.”

[LibWhacker]

OK, if you're like me, you're wondering what a "looped wishbone" looks like. Wonder no more.

The Hippocampus .. A looped wishbone of tissue

BTW, the jokes are crackin' me up, guys! :-)

[unspun]

Wee neeed to have a talk, Miiissssterrrr Siiiidennnet.

[Redcloak]

I’m getting a strong sense of Vuja De; the strange feeling that I’ve never read this post before.

[dfwgator]

I thought Monty Python already discussed this.

[JRios1968]

Do you ever get that strange feeling of vuja de? Not déjà vu; vuja de. It's the distinct sense that, somehow, something that just happened has never happened before. Nothing seems familiar. And then suddenly the feeling is gone. Vuja de. George Carlin, Napalm & Silly Putty (2001)

[unspun]

The Hippocampus .. A looped wishbone of tissue

Maybe then it's when we just hope it had happened before.

But then what is this?

[LibWhacker]

I noticed that claim, too. Problem is, in my case, I haven’t had a deja vu experience since I was a kid 45-50 years ago. Since I’m pretty sure I’ve been aging normally, it must mean I’ve got a pretty good hippocampus or something!

[MovieMogul]

I get deja Stew -— the feeling I’ve eaten this before.

[savedbygrace]

I believe its a French word.

French?

Git a rope.

[TASMANIANRED]

Deja Moo.

The feeling you’ve seen this bulls### before.

[Kimmers]

I get a deja loo.......the feeling I have been to the bathroom before

[no_lectures_please]

I wish I had seen this article when I was looking for a screen name....then I would be “dentate gyrus”. I think that has such a classy ring to it. I wonder if they would let me change my name???

[dfwgator]

I have Gator Vu, that feeling that I’ve seen the Gators win a National Championship before.

[Mr. Blonde]

I’m not a fan of it increasing with age or brain disease. I actually experience it pretty often and I’m only 23. I’m not a fan of what that might say.

[knarf]

But then, what is this?

Duhhh ... see the prof on the left?

Leadin' the class?

Hippo Campus.

Sheesh!

[NCLaw441]

Maybe you forgot that you remembered...

[kvanbrunt2]

and my comments are the same

[kvanbrunt2]

and my comments are the same

[kvanbrunt2]

and my comments are the same

[NCLaw441]

Maybe you forgot that you remembered...

[RightWhale]

This is good stuff.

[AngrySpud]

” ... happens more frequently with increasing age.”

Deja vu was a profound phenomena for me, affecting me in “clusters” of episodes — perhaps 5 to 10 episodes over the course of a couple of days ... and then nothing for another couple of years. Never seemed to have a trigger or a cause.

I always figured my brain was recording a current event or conversation a millisecond before it reached my consciousness, making it *seem* that it had already happened.

The episodes started around the age of 25 and stopped entirely at about 45.

[unspun]

But I'm not sure this is just exactly the same thing as deja vu:

"As an aging neuroscientist, Tonegawa admitted it’s a typical phenomenon with him. “I do a lot of traveling so I show up in brand new airports, and my brain tells me it’s been here before,” he said. “But the rest of my brain knows better.”"

[unspun]

The episodes started around the age of 25 and stopped entirely at about 45.

That does seem to be about when some fortunate people's brains undergo improvements. Then, they often start voting conservative.

[AngrySpud]

Read post #38 ... perhaps yours too will decrease with age.

[RightWhale]

Possibly not. The hippocampus is involved no doubt. As far as recognizing a place, well, I have had deja vu in places I am very familiar with as well as new places. It lasts a couple seconds and then time goes back to normal. I experience it as knowing what is happening just before it happens. It happens during sports events too. You know just where a pitch will go and just how to hit it and where the ball will go almost as if you are controlling the flight. Sometimes I can be in that mood for ten minutes at a stretch and my teammates think I am an athlete, but it doesn’t last, so Yogi can keep his job. Chevy Chase did a skit on that with golf.

[SIDENET]

LOL.

"My...name...is...SIDE-NET."

[HiTech RedNeck]

A campus of hippos

[Frank Sheed]

Nope... mini worm-hole from Donnie Darko.

[glock rocks]

Already posted.

[The Spirit Of Allegiance]

“the dentate gyrus, is responsible for “episodic” memories”

Sounds series.

Am I logged in again?

[glock rocks]

the dentate gyrus

That'd be a good name for a rock band. It's also a good description for Nicorette.

[The Spirit Of Allegiance]

Actually, it’s a Mideastern phrase that literally means:

“to leave false teeth in an unconscionably stale pita bread sandwich.”

[glock rocks]

How in the world did you miss such fun? Hell, deja vu is the only source of recall some of us get anymore.