posted
Déjà vu is commonly described as the feeling of having seen something before. In fact, some scientists have long thought that one type of the phenomenon occurs when the image of a scene through one eye arrives at the brain before the image from the other eye.
But researchers have now found a blind man who experiences déjà vu through smell, hearing and touch.
posted
I thought déjà vu meant the experience of having done something before. I know the literal translation is to "see again", but I didn't know that people thought that was the only way to have déjà vu.
quote:The man had déjà vu when undoing a jacket zipper while hearing a particular piece of music, and also while hearing a snatch of conversation while holding a plate in the school dining hall.
The discovery is reported in the December issue of the journal Brain and Cognition.
"It is the first time this has been reported in scientific literature," said Akira O'Connor of the University of Leeds.
What?!! I've experienced these multi-sensory forms of déjà vu my whole life. I thought this was normal. Are they honestly saying no one has published studies of this before? Wow. I can't recall any specific instances, but I know that various actions, sounds, and smells (often combined) have given me déjà vu. I don't remember the specific instances because I thought it was such a common occurance.
ETA: OK, it's a bit TMI, but I now remember I once got déjà vu triggered by an orgasm. It was quite startling.
-------------------- "There is no constitutional right to sleep with endangered reptiles." -- Carl Hiaasen Won't somebody please think of the adults! Posts: 8254 | From: Florida | Registered: Oct 2002
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posted
I frequently suffer from vivid deja vu, including sights sounds smells and even tastes..
it can get downright annoying for me..
one of the problems i have though is that it always seems like a distant memory.. not something recent... (like a few months ago..)
Posts: 62 | From: Markham, Ontario, Canada | Registered: Sep 2006
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posted
They could have asked me. I only have one eye and I have experienced déjà vu a number of times.
-------------------- Små hönor skall inte lägga stora ägg för då blir de slarviga i ändan Posts: 1334 | From: Sweden | Registered: Feb 2000
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posted
I have terrible déjà vu. It's the most annoying thing because it's so familiar & you just can't place, especially the ones where you know it didn't happen before because it's the first time you've been to that place or something.
My déjà vu always seems very dream-like, like, wavy lines & slanted floors & such. Does that happen to any of you?
-------------------- "I'm sorry for your loss. Your mother was a terribly attractive woman." - Royal Tenenbaum Posts: 44 | From: Harrisburg, PA | Registered: Nov 2006
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The last time I had a bad case of déjà vu (a solid 10-15 seconds of it) was just over a month ago now, and I totally freaked out my friend by finishing what he was going to say. The ones that are creepier for me, though, are when it happens in a place/circumstance in which there’s no way the exact thing happened in the past (I’d never been in that place before, etc). Doesn’t happen all that often, but when it does, it hits me like a ton of bricks. My vision is extremely poor, for whatever it’s worth.
-------------------- I dunno, I like the same qualities in a man as I want in a dog. Big, happy, friendly, and hairy. Not too much slobber either. ~Sue Bee Posts: 140 | From: Vancouver, BC, Canada | Registered: Jul 2004
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posted
Just another case of scientists trying to make something out of what is bloody obvious to the average man in the street. Why do they make a fuss when all they need do is ask the average man in the street. Whoa déjà vu.
-------------------- All the world's a face, And all the men and women merely acne. Posts: 673 | From: Glasgow, Scotland | Registered: Oct 2005
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Ladycrissdean
I'll Be Home for After Christmas Sales
posted
KDS - have you heard of pre-cognitive dreams?
This is generally how my deja vu experiences occur. I will dream something, and then three or four months later it will happen.
In high school I told one of my friends that I dreamed they had a dog and she, myself, and a boyfriend were playing with the dog and watching TV. At the time my friend did not have a dog and neither of us was seeing anybody. We thought the dream was just a fluke. Then a few months later the exact scene played out at her house. I pulled her aside and refreshed her memory of the dream. She kinda freaked out for a few minutes.
Generally when I do have pre-cognitive dreams I dream about someone I haven't met yet, but will meet soon.
-------------------- Do not meddle in the affairs of Dragons for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup. Posts: 138 | From: Lawrence, Kansas | Registered: May 2006
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I dreamed of sitting with my wife on our old couch years before we ever met. I didn't have a clue who she was or why I was sitting next to her. I was especially curious why because she looked in her late twenties/early thirties(I was in my mid-teens.) I remembered feeling a deep, true happiness when recalling her in the dream after waking up. I always kept it in the back of my mind.
One day we were sitting on the couch. Same couch, same woman, even the same clothes.
I will forever insist that it was our destiny to meet and be together.
I'm not going to try to defend it, so think what you will.
-------------------- It can't rain all the time. Posts: 1102 | From: Iowa | Registered: Oct 2004
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posted
...that's one of the sweetest things I've ever head, Nion.
Now what are you doing up at 4 in the morning? Go bakc to bed with the woman you met once upon a dream! (Hey, I can actually use that in this case!)
-------------------- My mom, about my nervousness with Jeopardy!: "Don't worry about it. Just get drunk and you'll do fine." Blog Just call me Mickey 2 Posts: 3295 | From: Radford, VA/Herndon, VA/Orlando, FL | Registered: Jan 2006
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posted
I get deja vu on a regular basis. The difficult thing is figuring out exactly when its deja vu, versus the even rarer times when something eerily similar actually did happen before but it feels like deja vu. That kind of false memory happens a lot with conversations, which are a distinctly non visual form of memory. Its annoying that you generally can't know if your memory is genuinely an old one or if its a new memory masking itself as old.
Posts: 2018 | From: Santa Barbara, California | Registered: Aug 2005
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