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Earl Aagaard’s opinions about everything that interests him. Og also enjoys gardening, travel, reading, woodbutchery, and lots of other stuff.

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DOESN’T IT SEEM LIKE YOU’VE READ THIS TITLE BEFORE?

Well, then—you’ve just experienced “deja vu”.

The most common technical definition of déjà vu (French for “already seen”) is “any subjectively inappropriate impression of familiarity of a present experience with an undefined past.” The term is often used, incorrectly, to describe anything that happens twice: As Yogi Berra joked, “It’s déjà vu all over again.” But most people know it as the uncanny feeling of having experienced something before. In the past, psychologists spoke not only of déjà vu but of déjà entendu (already heard), déjà senti (already smelled), déjà lu (already read), and déjà vécu (already lived). Freud traced the feeling, somewhat predictably, to the mother’s genitals: “There is indeed no other place about which one can assert with such conviction that one has been there before.”

To those who have never experienced it—roughly a third of the population, according to recent surveys—déjà vu may sound like an outlandish phenomenon, akin to seeing ghosts. But some researchers believe it may help answer basic questions about how memories are recalled and how the mind registers familiarity.

Akira O’Connor, who has apparently moved on from CARNIVOROUS PLANTS since 1999, is studying the phenomenon again.

You have to love this kind of thing (well, I do, anyhow)—like so much with our brains, it’s still extremely mysterious. READ the whole thing….

Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 08/18 at 11:21 AM

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