Posted on 02/01/2006 8:41:30 PM PST by blam
Volunteers for déjà vu study wanted. Come again?
By Paul Stokes
(Filed: 02/02/2006)
University researchers are conducting the world's first study into déjà vu - the feeling that something one is experiencing has happened before.
They are seeking volunteers who are chronic sufferers of the condition, which takes its name from the French phrase for "already seen".
Psychologists from Leeds University are being funded by the Economic and Social Research Council and will attempt to recreate déjà vu in laboratory conditions.
The project coincides with "Groundhog Day" which was set as Feb 2 in the eponymous Hollywood film and is now commonly used as an alternative term for déjà vu.
The anniversary is marked every Feb 2 in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, with the re-creation of a Native American tradition claiming that if a groundhog comes out of hibernation and sees its shadow, it goes back for another six weeks.
Dr Chris Moulin, who is leading the research, first encountered chronic cases of déjà vu five years ago.
He had a "peculiar referral" from a man who told him there was no point visiting his clinic because he had already been there, although this was impossible.
The man was so convinced he had met Dr Moulin before that he gave details of appointments, even though they had never met.
He believed he could hear the same bird singing in the same tree every time he went out and his déjà vu had developed to the extent that he stopped watching television, even news programmes, thinking they were repeats.
"But when his wife asked what was going to happen next on a programme he'd claimed to have already seen, he said 'How should I know? I have a memory problem'," said Dr Moulin.
The patient was found to be in the early stages of dementia and never recovered.
Other sufferers are otherwise perfectly well, but can become depressed and some have been prescribed anti-psychotic drugs.
Dr Moulin, who believes the condition is a memory dysfunction, said: "The exciting thing is they can 'recall' specific details about an event or meeting that never occurred.
"It suggests that the sensations associated with remembering are separate to the contents of memory - that there are two different systems in the brain at work.
"So far we've completed the natural history side of this condition.
"We've found ways of testing for it and the right clinical questions to ask. The next step is obviously to find ways to reduce the problem."
Dr Moulin wants to develop a worldwide network of patients.
"Sufferers need the reassurance that they're not alone, and we need them to help us learn more about who has it, what causes it, and why."
Don't understand what you all are talking about? If someone takes basic training twice, why would they make it up?
I never made it up the first time.
Obviously! Why would someone want to make something like that up! I understand at night you dreamed about what happened during the day. So sorry!
Oh, he loved his stories and they got better each time he told them too!
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